Ecosystem‐based translation of health research: expanding frameworks for environmental health

Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health 437 © 2018 The Authors This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made. Increasing concern for the consequences of global ecological change (GEC) has seen sustainable ecological development emerge as a human health priority.1,2 Policy frameworks are in place to protect the health-nurturing properties of the natural environment and to limit the health harms of development. Landmark events such as the Ottawa Charter (1986), United Nation’s (UN) Conference on Environment and Development (1992), the Convention of Biodiversity (1992), UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (1992), the Millennium Development Goals (2000), the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005), and now the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 2015–2030 have had significant impact on domestic policy, including within Australia. There are concurrent calls for biodiversity conservation to be mainstreamed (e.g. Australia’s Biodiversity Conservation Strategy 2010–2030) and for strategic consideration of the World Health Organization’s Health in All Policies (2013), in addition to SDG and carbon emission reduction goals that exist and provide frameworks within which such aspirations may be met.