The need for a global health ethic.

e37 www.thelancet.com Vol 386 November 14, 2015 In the 1940s, the renowned Wisconsin, USA, conservationist Aldo Leopold wrote “The Land Ethic” as the culmination of his now celebrated work, A Sand County Almanac. In his essay, Leop old articulated the need for, and the ethical basis of, a new relationship between people and the land. He imagined the awakening of an ecological conscience that redefi nes humanity as part of nature, rather than its external conqueror. The dire conservation challenges he observed—soil erosion, water pollution, and wildlife loss—required solutions based not merely on ecological expediency, but on ethical conviction. “That land is a community is the basic concept of ecology,” he wrote, “but that land is to be loved and respected is an extension of ethics”. We posit that Leopold’s vision for the land can and should be extended to global health. Like the The need for a global health ethic immediately explore the potential synergies between the Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of NCDs, the Sustainable Development Goals, and eff orts to close the nutrition divide manifested in the triple burden of malnutrition; all within the Earth’s critical and non-negotiable planetary boundaries. Comitigation policies need to build in health and ecosystem externalities through appropriate and progressive pricing mechanisms; protect freshwater resources; tackle and reduce food waste; invest in scalable plans and fi nancing models for implementing renewable energies, emphasising the potential indirect health gains through lower rates of pollution-related disease; and encourage regional investment in urban active transport infrastructure which benefi ts both the cardiovascular health of populations and environmental health. These are just some of the examples of win–win policies that must be fought for, from all sides. Achieving these goals will be crucial, but powerful corporate and political interests exist that have the potential to impede progress. With this in mind, we must forge and grow new partnerships for action. Linking health and environmental sustainability across science, business, politics, and civil society, the EAT Initiative strives to do just this. A multistakeholder platform that uses food as a vector for change, EAT identifi es and exploits common solutions to these global challenges and aims to realise a sustainable food system for all. We commend the report of The Rockefeller Foundation–Lancet Commission and call on the global community to focus on synergies between human and planetary health. Communities, leaders, scientists, and advocates from both sides must align thinking, language, and points of action. Ours is a shared agenda and the stakes could not be higher. These risks to both human and planetary health are issues we, as humanity, have created and therefore can and must solve. The future health of our planet, and our populations, depends on it.