event 25 Jul 2023

Research Article // The climate-biodiversity-health nexus: a framework for integrated community sustainability planning in the Anthropocene

By Robert Newell. An integrated approach to planning and policy is crucial for sustainability. The climate-biodiversity-health (CBH) nexus proposes a goals-oriented framework comprising three domains and six subdomains. This framework can guide new development, create community indicator systems, and improve sustainability plans and policies.

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Abstract

Integrated approaches to planning and policy are important for making progress toward sustainability. A variety of frameworks have been developed for facilitating such approaches to planning and policy, such as the water-energy-food (WEF) nexus. However, the WEF nexus has been criticized for a lack of clarity in how to apply the framework, whereas a goals-oriented framework potentially could be more easily applied and operationalized. This paper proposes such a framework, referred to here as the climate-biodiversity-health (CBH) nexus. The paper details the features of the CBH nexus framework, the interactions among its domains, and its potential applications. The CBH nexus consists of three domains (i.e., climate action, biodiversity conservation, and community health) and six subdomains (i.e., climate change mitigation, climate change adaptation, habitat protection and regeneration, wildlife health and welfare, physical health, and mental health). The framework can be applied in practice to develop checklists/toolkits for guiding new development and as a basis for creating community indicator systems. It can also be applied in research to identify gaps in planning and policy documents and as a lens for participatory modeling exercises. Continued experimentation with, and improvement of, the CBH framework will reveal its most useful applications, thereby opening new opportunities for communities to effectively develop and implement integrated sustainability plans and policies.

Published

May 2023

By

Frontiers

Citation

Newell, R. (2023). The climate-biodiversity-health nexus: a framework for integrated community sustainability planning in the Anthropocene. Frontiers in Climate, 5, 1177025.

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The climate-biodiversity-health nexus: a framework for integrated community sustainability planning in the Anthropocene

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