The Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS Centre) held the Planetary Health proposal development meeting and workshop on 2 February 2024. Following a series of meetings within the last two years, this workshop also served to finalise the grant proposal which aims to investigate how planetary health offers a more comprehensive approach to mitigating the effcts of climate change on human and environmental health. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, NTU researchers from RSIS, Nanyang Business School (NBS), College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences(CoHASS), Asian School of the Environment (ASE) and Lee Kong Chian (LKC) School of Medicine; provided inputs and participated in the discussion.

Prof Mely Caballero-Anthony, Head of NTS Centre, gave the opening remarks. She highlighted that since the COVID-19 pandemic, planetary health has gained momentum with the rise of climate-induced health and biosecurity threats, such as an increase of zoonotic pathogens and CO2 pollution’s impact on health. Key research areas of the proposal could include the impact of business activities on the health of the environment and people, issues of climate justice, and groups that are vulnerable to planetary health-related disruptions.

Associate Research Fellow Margareth Sembiring then shared on the project overview and recap, outlining the key research advancements in planetary health, as well as the need for more focus and buy-in on the protection and conservation of the environment and biodiversity.

Research Fellow Jose Ma. Luis P. Montesclaros presented the proposal writing briefing and facilitated discussion among the participants. He highlighted the research objectives and questions of the proposal, how the research is relevant to Singapore, and the outcomes which aim to include journal articles and a potential planetary health scorecard. The discussion concluded with participants looking forward to the continued work in this field.