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. 2022 Mar 28;21(1):37.
doi: 10.1186/s12940-022-00848-w.

Priorities for research on environment, climate and health, a European perspective

Elina Drakvik  1   2 , Manolis Kogevinas  3   4   5   6 , Åke Bergman  1 , Anais Devouge  7 , Robert Barouki  7 ; HERA (Health and Environment Research Agenda) Consortium
Collaborators, Affiliations

Priorities for research on environment, climate and health, a European perspective

Elina Drakvik et al. Environ Health. .

Abstract

Climate change, urbanisation, chemical pollution and disruption of ecosystems, including biodiversity loss, affect our health and wellbeing. Research is crucial to be able to respond to the current and future challenges that are often complex and interconnected by nature. The HERA Agenda, summarised in this commentary, identifies six thematic research goals in the environment, climate and health fields. These include research to 1) reduce the effects of climate change and biodiversity loss on health and environment, 2) promote healthy lives in cities and communities, 3) eliminate harmful chemical exposures, 4) improve health impact assessment and implementation research, 5) develop infrastructures, technologies and human resources and 6) promote research on transformational change towards sustainability. Numerous specific recommendations for research topics, i.e., specific research goals, are presented under each major research goal. Several methods were used to define the priorities, including web-based surveys targeting researchers and stakeholder groups as well as a series of online and face-to-face workshops, involving hundreds of researchers and other stakeholders. The results call for an unprecedented effort to support a better understanding of the causes, interlinkages and impacts of environmental stressors on health and the environment. This will require breakdown of silos within policies, research, actors as well as in our institutional arrangements in order to enable more holistic approaches and solutions to emerge. The HERA project has developed a unique and exciting opportunity in Europe to consensuate priorities in research and strengthen research that has direct societal impact.

Keywords: Chemicals; Cities; Climate; Impact assessment; Infrastructures; Research agenda; Transformational change.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
HERA framework for engaging stakeholders and scientist in the definition of Research goals (RG) for the research agenda
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. UN (2016): UN Agenda for Sustainable Development https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/development-agenda/. Accessed 25 Nov 2021.
    1. EC (2018): Setting the priorities for a European environment, climate and health research agenda SC1-HCO-13–2018: https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/op.... Accessed 25 Nov 2021.
    1. HERA Agenda (2021): https://www.heraresearcheu.eu/hera-2030-agenda) Accessed 25 Nov 2021.
    1. HERA Agenda Annex (2020): Interim document. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5d6d2b4f677cfc00014c7b53/t/5e8da0.... Accessed 25 Nov 2021.
    1. Paloniemi R. et al. (2022): A transformative research approach addressing the interface between health, environment and climate: the state of European policy and practice (Submitted for review)

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