The Planetary Health Report (as the report became known) has given rise to an international movement involving research, education, translation of knowledge that impacts policies, products, processes across all sectors of society. It has resulted, for example, in the creation of an international alliance (The Planetary Health Alliance), an annual event (Planetary Health Annual Meeting) in the creation of chairs on this topic at universities around the world (such as Harvard, Sydney and Oxford), and in a specialized scientific journal (The Lancet Planetary Health).
USP promoted, through the Biodiversity and Computing Research Center (BioComp), and with the support of the Dean of Research, the launch of the Planetary Health Report in Brazil, with the participation of one of its main articulators and author, Sir Andy Haines of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. At the same event, the report “Connecting Global Priorities: Biodiversity and Human Health” by Romanelli et al. (2015) promoted by the World Health Organization (WHO-UN), Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD-UN) and United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), with the participation of one of its main articulators, Dr. Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias, who was then the executive secretary of the CBD-UN. The event took place in September 2015, just months after its global launch.
In response, USP was invited to join the upcoming Planetary Health Alliance, led by Harvard University and headquartered, supported by the Rockefeller Foundation. Since then, USP has participated in PHA’s annual events in 2017 in Cambridge and 2018 in Edinburgh and has been encouraged to take on a liaison role in Latin America. It was then created at Planetary Health Online Community, PHA’s online collaboration tool, a Planetary Health Latin America & Caribbean hub, under the leadership of USP. In 2019, USP was invited to take a position on the PHA Steering Committee.
The creation of this group at the USP Advanced Study Institute aims to carry out studies related to the Planetary Health theme, also articulating the groups, researchers and activities already existing at the University, to contribute to solving the current problems facing the planet and society. It also aims to continue USP’s pioneering participation in this movement simultaneously in Brazil, Latin America, and the Caribbean. It has a large community of actors that are intrinsically linked to the theme within USP itself, in the various areas of knowledge involved in the concept of planetary health, such as medicine, public health, environment, education, social sciences, engineering, economics, among others. It will also count on numerous relevant partners in Brazil and abroad, many of which USP already interacts.