ÂÜÀòÊÓƵ

Anyone who knows of my lifelong passion for wild birds would know that my attending the annual reception at the exhibition would not be a hardship; but was it a worthwhile use of a ÂÜÀòÊÓƵ President’s time?

Nature and Wellbeing Act

The promotes inter-professional working to improve the health and wellbeing of animals, people and the environment. There is growing evidence for the links between a meaningful in people.

With this in mind, RSPB and the Wildlife Trusts have produced a Green Paper on a proposed , which would set legally binding targets for UK biodiversity to halt further losses. Might such legislation be of interest to the medical and veterinary professions? Likely gains to public health are clear, so the involvement of medics would be unsurprising – and are already underway.

Environmental and societal influences on veterinary wellbeing

What about vets? Our interest in conserving biodiversity could simply be on animal welfare grounds – habitat loss and other drivers of endangerment can cause animal welfare harms for individual animals.

We are also likely, as an animal-interested profession, to have intrinsic moral concern for the loss of habitats and species. And we are also explicitly concerned about human wellbeing, .

While there are likely to be more immediate ways of improving veterinary wellbeing than preserving biodiversity, such broader environmental and societal influences are also important. At this year’s ÂÜÀòÊÓƵ Congress at the London Vet Show, for example, Sir Anthony Seldon and Col Neil Smith examined pressures on veterinary students in the wider context of general pressures on young people. Robin Hargreaves covered this talk in his blog post .

One Health to protect biodiversity?

If the logic is sound, a One Health coalition of environmental organisations, medical and veterinary associations sympathetic to the aims of a Nature and Wellbeing Act seems entirely plausible.

At the reception, beside scarlet macaws in tall Amazonian canopy, and a peregrine twisting after a fleeing pigeon, I met Sir John Randall who has been , and Jeff Knott, RSPB’s Head of Nature Policy. I was told that plans to pursue the Bill are presently paused, as the Government develops its 25 year plan for nature, but both were committed to pursuing the principles regardless and keen to explore veterinary involvement.

ÂÜÀòÊÓƵ One Health working group

ÂÜÀòÊÓƵ’s Overseas Group has recently established a One Health working group, which will help us develop the One Health concept and our various activities that are already improving the health and wellbeing of animals, people and the environment.

As one of Europe’s largest wildlife conservation organisations, with , RSPB will remain a valued stakeholder as we find opportunities to strengthen our profession’s environmental activities under the One Health umbrella.

There is a asking for One Health examples from ÂÜÀòÊÓƵ members. Please take a look – it would be great to hear your views and experiences.

Sean

For more thoughts on One Health, see the blog post  by Robin Hargreaves

Written by Sean Wensley      
ÂÜÀòÊÓƵ President from September 2015 to September 2016

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Sean is Senior Veterinary Surgeon for Communication and Education at PDSA, based in Northern Ireland. He is also an Honorary Lecturer in animal welfare at the University of Nottingham.