Environmental Degradation as a Risk Multiplier: Interlinking Hazards, Conflict, and Health

Sarah Elizabeth Scales, University of Nebraska Medical Center (United States)

Health has successfully been used as a leverage point in the peacebuilding process. For example, the Pan American Health Organization implemented Health as a Bridge for Peace during the Esquipulas peace process, effectively coalescing communities, governments, and non-state actors around the shared objective of comprehensive polio vaccination coverage for populations living in remote and insecure areas of Central America. While similar initiatives and “days of tranquility” for public health activities have not seen the same overwhelming success, the underlying principles have shaped public health actions in post-disaster and fragile and violent contexts globally. The ninth target of Sustainable Development Goal 3 – Good Health and Wellbeing – specifies the reduction of morbidity and mortality from environmental hazards. Pollution, new waste streams, and both unintentional and intentional environmental degradation significantly amplify both civilian and combatant exposure to environmental hazards. Disasters caused by natural hazards disproportionately affect populations experiencing insecurity, further exacerbating negative human health impacts. However, there is significant work to be done to catalyze research evidence to inform action. The substantive integration of health into the work of environmental peacebuilding offers a strategic opportunity to capitalize on knowledge across disciplinary silos and to improve the health and wellbeing of humans and the world we share.