2024.10.15
(PHAJ) Pro. Samuel Myers: Plan...
Crafting a Symbiotic Relationship between Humans and Earth: A Planetary Health Approach
Prof. Samuel Myers, Founding Director of the Planetary Health Alliance, is coming to Japan! Hiroshima University and the Environmental Risk Committee of The Science Council of Japan will organize the Planetary Health Symposium at Hiroshima University. The Planetary Health Alliance Japan Hub co-organises this symposium. In this symposium, we are going to discuss the relationship of planetary health with the three main activities in the environmental policy, “nature positive,” “carbon neutral,” and “circular economy.” Through the planetary health approach, we discuss crafting a symbiotic relationship between humans and Earth. (Hybrid Event: ZOOM and in-person | Simultaneous interpretation: Japanese and English )
# Event Details
Date and Time: Saturday, November 9, 2024, 1:00 PM – 4:15 PM (JST)
Venue:
Hiroshima University, Kasumi Campus, Ryoun Building (1-2-3 Kasumi, Minami Ward, Hiroshima City)
(access)* Note: Please use public transportation.
Participation: Onsite or online (registration required)
Language: Japanese and English (simultaneous interpretation available)
Audience: Open to all
Organizers:
Planetary Health & Innovation Science Center (PHIS), The IDEC Institute, Hiroshima University
Environmental Risk Committee of The Science Council of Japan
Co-Organizer:
Planetary Health Alliance Japan Hub
# Web (Register here) (English)
https://www.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/en/news/86123
# Objective
This symposium will deepen understanding of the global perspective, local progress, and community practice on the relationship between planetary health and “nature positive,” “carbon neutral,” and “circular economy.” Then, we will discuss crafting a symbiotic relationship between humans and Earth through a planetary health approach.
# Introduction to the speaker: Samuel Myers, MD, MPH
Dr. Samuel Myers is the Founding Director of the Planetary Health Alliance and the Johns Hopkins Institute for Planetary Health. He received his BA from Harvard College, his MD from Yale Medical School, and received his MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health. He oversees multi-institutional efforts focused on understanding and quantifying the human health impacts of global environmental change and translating that understanding into action globally.
# Program
Opening
Opening Remark: Junko TANAKA, Executive Vice President, Hiroshima University
Remarks from the Chair of the Environmental Risk Committee of The Science Council of Japan: Keiko NAKAMURA, Professor and Chair, Department of Global Health Entrepreneurship, Institute of Science Tokyo
Explanatory Introduction: Saori KASHIMA (Director, Center for the Planetary Health and Innovation Science (PHIS), The IDEC Institute, Hiroshima University)
Keynote Lecture
“Planetary Health: Safeguarding human health on very rapidly changing planet”
Samuel Myers (Founding Director of Planetary Health Alliance, Professor of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and Director of Johns Hopkins Institute for Planetary Health)
I will describe what is truly unique about the historical moment that we find ourselves in where most metrics of human development and wellbeing have been improving but our planet’s natural systems are beginning to collapse. I will introduce Planetary Health research that shows that these trends cannot remain disconnected and that the improvements in health and wellbeing over the past several decades are now threatened by destabilized life support systems and I will review some of the evidence across different dimensions of human health. I will suggest that in order to meet the moment that we find ourselves in, we will need rapid transformational changes in how we live across all of our systems to reduce our ecological footprint and restore and regenerate Nature. I will suggest that we have a very rich landscape of solutions available if we can generate the political and social will to seize them. I will discuss a bit about the Planetary Health Alliance and the core activities we are involved in as well as the new Johns Hopkins Institute for Planetary Health.
Educational Lectures
“The perspective of human ecology and planetary health action in Japan”
Chiho WATANABE (Professor, Interfaculty Initiative in Planetary Health, Nagasaki University)
Panel discussion
Moderators:
Yoshihiro SAMBONGI (Professor, Graduate School of Integrated Sciences for Life, Hiroshima University)
Saori KASHIMA (Director, PHIS, The IDEC Institute, Hiroshima University)
Panellists:
Nature Positive
“For a Planet We Can Leave to Future Generations:
Our Responsibility to Biodiversity and Planetary”
Kanoko AKE, Policy CEO & Founder, Rooting Our Own Tomorrows / Japan Committee for International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN-J)
Carbon Neutral
“Necessary Efforts and Challenges to
Achieve Decarbonized Society”
Toshihiko MASUI, Director, Social Systems Division, National Institute for Environmental Studies, Japan
“Healthy Aging City Based on Smart
Mobility Platform”
Akimasa FUJIWARA, Professor, PHIS, The IDEC Institute, Hiroshima University
Circular Economy
“Local Circular Economy in Food”
Maki UNO (PhD candidate) & Yousuke CHOMEI (Assistant professor) (Graduate School of Integrated Sciences for Life Hiroshima University)
“Enhancing Health Co-Benefits Through Environmental Mitigation:
Advancing Sustainable Well-being”
Masahiro HASHIZUME, Professor of Department of Global Health Policy Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo
