The German Federal Foreign Office (FFO) in partnership with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) co-hosted a two day virtual conference “One Planet, One Health, One Future: Moving forward in a post-COVID19 world” in November 2020. This year's conference built on the 2019 One World, One Health, One Future conference and the Berlin Principles on One Health, which were launched at the 2019 event. Event speakers and participants warned of the dire impact on our global society if we kept ignoring the interconnected issues relevant to human, animal and environmental health – also known as the One Health approach. A few months later, the COVID-19 pandemic gave a devastating wake-up call for the global community. The ongoing global health crisis has highlighted the close connections with non-traditional security issues, including wildlife trade for human consumption, as well as the biodiversity and climate crises. The five virtual sessions of the 2020 conference explored what One Health looks like in practice and how to operationalize it. The panel of experts discussed some of the realities on the ground in Africa, Asia, and Latin America; and explored how trans-sectoral, multilateral cooperation can serve to reduce the risk of future zoonotic pandemics, and promote a healthy future and recovery.
The diverse speakers were unified in their call for human, animal and environmental health sectors to be bolder and cross professional, disciplinary and sectoral boundaries, to work towards strengthening the foundational role of biodiversity and One Health across all policies. While the past months have demonstrated a wide-ranging commitment to One Health from governments, multilaterals and donors, operationalization remains elusive and a real challenge. It was clear to all that unless we fully integrate biodiversity conservation into a One Health approach and post-COVID-19 recovery, we will not prevent the next pandemic of zoonotic origin. The virtual sessions are available to watch online via the links below.
CONFERENCE SESSION RECORDINGS DAY 1: November 17, 2020 Plenary Session: Introductory panel on Operationalizing One Health (WATCH ONLINE)Session I: One Health and Pandemic Prevention in a Latin American context (WATCH ONLINE)
DAY 2: November 18, 2020Session I: One Health and Pandemic Prevention in an Asian context (WATCH ONLINE)Session II: One Health and Pandemic Prevention in an African context (WATCH ONLINE)Session III: The importance of multilateralism and trans-sectoral partnerships for One Health and global health security (WATCH ONLINE)
CONFERENCE AGENDADay 1: November 17, 2020Plenary - Introductory panel on Operationalizing One Health
Keynote Address: Mr. Niels Annen, Minister of State, German Federal Foreign Office Dr. Cristián Samper, President and CEO, Wildlife Conservation Society
Moderator: Dr. Eckart v. Hirschhausen, Medical Doctor, Science Journalist and Founder of "Healthy Planet-Healthy People" (Stiftung Gesunde Erde-Gesunde Menschen)
Speakers:
Dr. Harvey Fineberg, President, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
Prof. Dr. Dr. med. Sabine Gabrysch, Professor for Climate Change and Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, and Head of Department "Climate Resilience" at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
Ms. Executive Secretary Elizabeth Mruma Mrema, Executive Secretary of the Secretariat on the Convention of Biological Diversity
Prof. Dr. Chris Walzer, Executive Director, Health Program , Wildlife Conservation Society
Session I: One Health and Pandemic prevention in a Latin American context
Moderator: Dr. Nicole de Paula, Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies e.V. (IASS), Founder Women Leaders for Planetary Health (2019-2020), First Klaus Töpfer Sustainability Fellow
Dr. Sarah Olson, Associate Director of Epidemiology, Health Program, Wildlife Conservation Society
Dr. Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias, Former Executive Secretary, Convention on Biological Diversity
Honorable Dr. Alejandro Gaviria, President, University of Andes, Bogotá
Day 2: November 18, 2020Session I: One Health and Pandemic prevention in an Asian context Watch: WCS One Health in Action in Vietnam
Moderator: Dr. Aili Kang, Executive Director, Asia Program, Wildlife Conservation Society
Mr. Stephan Opitz, Member of Management Committee, KfW Development Bank Europe and Asia
Prof. Dr. iur QIN Tianbao, National Changjiang Young Scholar Professor, Director, Research Institute of Environmental Law (RIEL), Wuhan University if China and Secretary-General, China Society of Environmental and Resources Law (CSERL), Co-Editor-in-Chief, Chinese Journal of Environmental Law (Brill)
Dr. Enkhtuvshin "Enkee" Shiilegdamba, Mongolia Country Director, Wildlife Conservation Society
Dr. Amanda Fine, Associate Director, Health Program Asia, Wildlife Conservation Society
Dr. Angela Merianos, Team Coordinator for Pacific Health Security, Communicable Diseases and Climate Change, World Health Organization- Western Pacific (View PDF)
Ms. Ibu Indra Exploitasia, Director for Biodiversity Conservation, Directorate General of Natural Resources and Ecosystem Conservation, Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Indonesia (WATCH VIDEO)
Session II: One Health and Pandemic prevention in an African contextWatch: WCS One Health in Action in Republic of Congo
Moderator: Dr. John Amuasi, Executive Director, African Research Network for NTDs and Co-Chair of the Lancet One Health Commission
Ms. Birgit Pickel, Director for Global Health, Pandemic Prevention and One Health, German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Dr. Anthony Nsiah-Asare, Presidential Advisor on Health, Ghana
Dr. Oyeladun Okunromade, Head, IHR/One Health, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC)
Dr. Michel Masozera, Deputy Wildlife Practice Leader for Africa at WWF International, {As of December 1, 2020: Director, Policy and Institutional Partnerships, Africa, Wildlife Conservation Society}
Session III: The importance of multilateralism and trans-sectoral partnerships for One Health and global health security
Moderator: Dr. Susan Lieberman, Vice President, International Policy, Wildlife Conservation Society
Mr. Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, CEO and Chairperson, Global Environment Facility
Mr. Stephen Pailler, Head of the Climate and Environment Directorate, Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, France
Ms. Mette Løyche Wilkie, Director, Forestry Division, FAOMr. Joe Walston, Executive Vice President, Global Conservation, Wildlife Conservation Society
A downloadable agenda is available here.
LEARN MORE
You can learn more about the 2019 One World, One Health, One Future conference and The Berlin Principles on One Health through our website. To get the latest WCS reports, news, and commentary on the COVID-19 pandemic, read more here. On November 17, WCS issued a report on ONE HEALTH IN ACTION.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to write to us at onehealth@wcs.org.