The Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS Centre) collaborated with researchers from other Schools in NTU to discuss planetary health on 22 August 2022. It hosted a RSIS Workshop on “The Future of Planetary Health: Lessons from a Global Pandemic” at Nanyang Technological University’s (NTU) iconic building, The Hive. The workshop brought together researchers in NTU from the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Business School, College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Asian School of the Environment, Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, and the Earth Observatory of Singapore to share their unique perspectives on planetary health.
The opening remarks for this workshop were delivered by Dr Alistair D.B. Cook, Senior Fellow and Coordinator of the Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Programme, NTS Centre, RSIS. Ms Margareth Sembiring, Associate Research Fellow at the NTS Centre, provided an overview of the planetary health concept and its focus on the links between human health and the health of natural systems. The workshop included three components: mapping and analysis of planetary health; the development of a planetary health scorecard design and assessment; and justice and societal impacts of planetary health.
Led by Dr Cook, the topics of discussion for the first session included methods to integrate planetary health into policy, and the significance of science as both the source of and solution to exploitation of nature. Led by Associate Professor Tao Chen from Nanyang Business School, the second session focused on the design and development of a scorecard to assess planetary health. Topics discussed during this session included how the private sector can contribute to improving planetary health, as well as the need for reliable data in creating and using the scorecard and its potential applicability in different sectors. The third session was led by Associate Professor Md Saidul Islam, Coordinator of the Environment and Sustainability Cluster, School of Social Sciences, and centered on the justice and societal impacts of planetary health. During this session, participants discussed the ecological crises of the Anthropocene and considered various alternative economic paradigms as a solution.
The workshop concluded with a discussion of the project’s research framework and next steps. Participants reflected on potential areas for development, identified inter-linkages between each project, and discussed further collaboration between researchers across NTU.
