ONE HEALTH, TWO WORLD ORGANIZATIONS FOR THE ENVIRONMENT, A TRIPLE PLANETARY CRISIS, A QUADRIPARTITE ALLIANCE, AND THE MULTIPLE FACETS OF ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

Environmental degradation claims millions of lives yearly: 12.6 million due to pollution and climate disruption. One Health, a holistic paradigm that unites human, animal, and environmental health, provides the most effective perspective for confronting these critical situations. This review traces the evolution of the One Health idea from ancient insights to its most contemporary pinnacle: the 2022 Quadripartite Alliance, where UNEP joined WHO, FAO, and WOAH to address interconnected health threats. It presents how UNEP, the United Nations institution tasked with overseeing global environmental governance, has incorporated One Health principles into its various programmes and actions through specific initiatives and by embedding its principles and guidelines across all its programmes and actions. To explain this important connection, the review first presents the structure of UNEP and its governing body (the UN Environment Assembly, -UNEA-); then, it illustrates how the incorporation of One Health approaches occurs across the three dimensions in which UNEP operates: producing environmental reports that enhance the science-policy connection; advocating campaigns to mobilize resources and to increase public and private commitment, and, finally, through the direct implementation of programmes and actions. The review of the connection between UNEP/UNEA and One Health is systematised through an exposition of how global health aspects are reflected in the policy promoted by UNEP to tackle the “triple planetary crisis” (climate crisis, biodiversity crisis, and pollution crisis). Finally, the review highlights some of the most relevant current efforts in the environment/health arena, such as the push for a Plastics Treaty or the international mobilisation to tackle antimicrobial resistance (AMR), a 'silent pandemic' exacerbated by environmental factors, is projected to cause 39 million cumulative deaths from 2025 to 2050 (The Lancet, 2024)