[FRESH3 brainstorming session –How to tell a meaningful story on the impacts of the
environment on human health and well-being]
30 septembre 2014
FRESH 3 brainstorming session
How can EEA tell a meaningful overarching story on the impacts of the
environment on human health and well-being
At the NRC meeting in Copenhagen
on the 30/09/2014
The European Environment Agency (EEA) wants to enhance the environment and human
health and well-being (EHWB) component in its integrated assessments, and to support
policy making, including the evaluation of the 7th Environment Action Programme, the
Europe 2020 strategy and the Resource Efficiency Roadmap.
In 2012, the first contract under Article 5 of the EEA Regulation, was established, with a
group of NRC EH members (FRESH consortium) to support the development of an EH
narrative for the EEA and EIONET, to frame EH input to the SOER 2015, to identify critical
gaps and data needs, and to facilitate sharing of country practices in assessing and reporting
EH issues (FRESH 2012). In 2013, a follow-up contract (FRESH 2013) further explored
several EHWB aspects, linking them to the analysis of a resource use related to the provision
of food, water, energy and housing, carried out in the EEA 2013 indicator report.
The overall objective of the work under this 2014 FRESH contract is to further support a
broader framing of EH issues with the perspective of a European EHWB assessment report,
and to facilitate sharing of country practices in addressing EHWB issues.
Building on what has already been done by EEA and by FRESH, the brainstorming session
provides an opportunity to discuss how to move forward in integrated EHWB assessments
and reporting, to identify potential barriers and how to overcome them.
The brainstorming session is a scoping exercise with the objective to explore how EEA could
tell a meaningful overarching story on the impacts of the environment on human health and
well-being, and to discuss how EEA could progress with regards to integrated assessments
and reporting, focusing on the barriers and how they could be overcome.
Objectives and Ideas for discussion
V9 – 15/09/2014
1
[FRESH3 brainstorming session –How to tell a meaningful story on the impacts of the
environment on human health and well-being]
I.
30 septembre 2014
Introduction and concepts
Environment
Ecosystems,
Positive and / or
(artificial and natural)
space, mobility,
negative
(Fauna, flora, air, water, soil,
noise, waste, life cycle ...)
cycles that respect
Biodiversity, Green
environmental
the environment,
impact on
ethical production,
Health
Well-being
(life expectancy, Health
care systems, Access to
health care, genetics,
prevention, screening
... )
(economics, exchanges,
social integration,
societal expectations,
socio-economic
development,
sustainability ...)
health...
sustainable
development …
Ability to envisage a
future, personal
development and human
relations in a secure
environment,
reproduction …
Urbanisation, transport, physical activity,
nutrition, perception, adaptation,
satisfying one’s needs, quality of life,
leisure activities ...
Figure 1: EHWB concept in the context of the WHO definition of health1
EHWB is a complex issue and many interactions are at play. Human health and well-being
are influenced by environmental conditions both positively and negatively with significant
economic and social consequences. On the opposite side, economic and social development
interact with the environment, human health and well-being. The interfaces between these
various elements, such as technologies and resource availability are the areas that need to
be further understood and documented in order to support a broader framing of EHWB
issues.
Nowadays, it is necessary to consider human social complexity in the relationship between
people and their environment; the positive potential of good environments; the psychosocial
dimension and the ecological dimension. Work on such an ecosystems approach and linking
environment to health has already been done (for instance in the joint EEA/JRC environment
and health report – in particular part III on analytical and policy considerations), and the EEA
2013 environmental indicator report where big environment themes on resource efficiency
were linked to environment and health. Reversing the entry points, by placing human health
and well-being concerns in the centre and starting from the population and then looking at
how things pan out from an integrated perspective, would bring added-value to this work and
help identify the challenges in bringing in an integrated approach to the EEA SOER.
1
The WHO definition: “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the
absence of disease or infirmity” leads to a positive approach to health and a global approach to health. In this
case, the environment is meant in the wide sense, including artificial and natural environments within social,
economic, cultural contexts .
Objectives and Ideas for discussion
V9 – 15/09/2014
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[FRESH3 brainstorming session –How to tell a meaningful story on the impacts of the
environment on human health and well-being]
30 septembre 2014
A recently articulated model which seeks to integrate considerations of ecosystem health,
human health and wellbeing is the ‘ecosystems enriched DPSEEA’ (eDPSEEA) model (Reis
S, Morris G et al., 2013) (see Figure 2). The model represents the proximal and distal
relationship between environment and human health. The eDPSEEA model builds on the
DPSEEA/mDPSEEA models used by the WHO to better reflect the health and wellbeing
implications of ecosystems change.
Figure 2 Ecosystems enriched DPSEEA model
The conceptual framework is designed to enable discussions on these issues and can be
used in a number of ways:
-
-
As a basis for reflection to help identify interactions between various factors
to describe and analyse baseline situations
to evaluate where policy should be focused, to evaluate the impact of policy
interventions (or lack of), or to derive and test targeted policy interventions (or assess
inaction) aimed at reducing identified gaps and improving EHWB. Policies can then
be bent and tuned in a more integrated, rather than sectorial, way.
To define relevant indicators for policy makers and stakeholders.
It can be applied at different levels: local, regional, national or international.
.
Objectives and Ideas for discussion
V9 – 15/09/2014
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[FRESH3 brainstorming session –How to tell a meaningful story on the impacts of the
environment on human health and well-being]
30 septembre 2014
As can be seen in the results of the FRESH 1 and 2 projects, one key element is to achieve
a readable description of these interfaces. In a second step, these interactions and the
positive levers and links to policy agendas and measures that impact our environment are
examined. Associated to this framework, case studies or narratives can also be identified
and developed to illustrate specific interlinkages. For example, demographic developments
and environmental change clearly dictate the focus of environment and health policy on the
urban residential area. The implications of rapid urban growth include unemployment,
environmental degradation, lack of urban services, overburdening of existing infrastructures
and lack of access to land, finance and adequate shelter. Managing a sustainable urban
residential environment becomes one of the major challenges for the future especially when
balancing the different parameters including waste discharge and resource consumption.
This was for example developed in the FRESH projects with the narrative ‘Cities in
Transition: Challenges and Opportunities for the Elderly’. However, the principles can be
applied across the field of modern public health. Narratives can help identify the priority focus
of environment and health policies at the three distinct levels or spheres: cities (macro),
neighbourhood (meso) and households/Individuals (micro).
The work in FRESH also touched upon what should be done differently to operationalise this
overarching EHWB approach: the policies, indicators, approaches to issue framing,
institutional arrangements, governance etc. The brainstorming session is also an opportunity
to look into these in more detail when discussing the overarching issue: the assessment,
reporting and communication of EHWB impacts.
Figure 2: Example narrative illustration of interlinkages
II.
Brainstorming session
Introduction:
The brainstorming sessions will facilitating the EEA in scoping issues in the field of human
health and well-being. To do this the context of EHWB and FRESH concept will be presented
to provide a shared understanding of the conceptual framework in FRESH and highlight
important EHWB issues.
In the brainstorming session, we aim to discuss how EEA could tell a meaningful overarching
story on the impacts of the environment on human health and well-being, in particular to
Objectives and Ideas for discussion
V9 – 15/09/2014
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[FRESH3 brainstorming session –How to tell a meaningful story on the impacts of the
environment on human health and well-being]
30 septembre 2014
discuss how EEA could progress with regards to integrated assessments and reporting,
focusing on the barriers (and how they could be overcome) and the opportunities.
Methodology:
After a plenary session aiming at presenting the FRESH concept and “overarching
framework”, and discussing how to include the approach in further environmental health
assessments, working groups will be created. They will be dedicated to the parallel
development of the approach on different topics, always putting health and well-being in
the centre, providing 3 stories using a common methodology and common boundary
conditions.
Program:
During the introduction to the working group discussions, the generic diagram (“the
overarching framework” will be presented and some boundary conditions or evolution drivers
will be determined which should be taken into account by all groups. These include the:
-
Health determinants,
Ecological dimension
Socio-demographic and economic drivers
Emerging trends and future developments
NRC members will then be split into different parallel working groups who will unravel the
approach on three different themes (still to be determined but e.g. housing, food and water,
transport, sustainable energy) during three discussion sessions:
1. Tools to think with: built on the conceptual framework: To create a more detailed
framework starting from the FRESH conceptual model overview: moving from the
classic environment-driven approach to the integrated solution placing EHWB and the
health determinants as the entry point (thinking about and discussing the issues and
populating the model).
2. To analyse the context and identify critical points for indicators or where they need
further development.
3. To discuss policy developments and tell the story by assembling the framework
and indicators into case studies (positive stories where actions and levers have an
impact) and identify barriers.
A final plenary session will bring the three groups together to present the results of their
discussion (their story), each group will have 5 minutes tell a convincing story. The final
plenary will also be used to cross the ideas arising from the discussions, and the reasons for
the choices made (e.g. why certain issues and cases were not included), looking at the
barriers identified and how they could be overcome.
Output:
The output will be three different thematic stories with illustrative case-studies translating the
conceptual framework and important EHWB issues into practice. The discussions and maps
of the framework and interactions and critical points identified for indicators and levers (policy
developments) will also be reported.
Objectives and Ideas for discussion
V9 – 15/09/2014
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[FRESH3 brainstorming session –How to tell a meaningful story on the impacts of the
environment on human health and well-being]
30 septembre 2014
Background material
Preparation for the brainstorm session can be done by reading the FRESH 3 draft
material/background documents:
-
General Brochure FRESH (draft)
Narrative Brochure (FRESH1)
FRESH 1 and 2 final reportsw29q
Other useful background reading materials are:
-
EEA/JRC Environment and health report (part III)
EEA 2013 environmental indicator report
EEA – state and outlook 2015: draft E&H Chapter
Objectives and Ideas for discussion
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