Abstract
Veterinarians are established public health professionals, committing to promote public health when they take their veterinary oath. The issue of climate change and its impact on planetary health is vital to public health, and therefore, it is critical that climate change is regarded as within the veterinary scope of practice. However, climate change is a multi-faceted issue which requires interdisciplinary collaboration and integrated stakeholder involvement in order to establish effective solutions and impactful policies. As a result, in this perspective, we discuss how policy is critical to support veterinarians in the climate change space and argue that more explicit support is needed for veterinarians to take an active role in climate change adaption, resilience, and mitigation. We address the discrepancies between the human health and veterinary professions with respect to providing policy support and capacity for practitioners to be stewards to promote planetary health and shed light on the lack of veterinary capacity in this area. We stress that veterinary professional societies are well equipped to bolster their policies, expand education for veterinary professionals and students in policy and advocacy, and establish calls to action to address climate change and planetary health issues. Ultimately, as public health professionals, veterinarians are uniquely poised to be contributors to climate change solutions and they should be actively involved in policy decision-making and empowered to take active roles in interdisciplinary conversations surrounding this important issue.
Highlights
The nature of veterinary training inherently promotes an interdisciplinary approach to solving global health problems, including integrated use of public health practices such as disease detection, reporting, and surveillance, as well as health education and prevention [1]
Veterinarians have the opportunity to serve as “boundary-spanners” and “honest brokers”(104) using their roles as practitioners to share their knowledge about public health issues with policy-makers, educate the public on the impacts of climate change on planetary health, and bolster capacity for climate change resilience, adaptation, and mitigation
Veterinary students across the U.S agree that climate change is a problem, believe veterinarians have a responsibility to be leaders in this space, that veterinary professional societies should take an active role, and that educational opportunities should be expanded [114]
Summary
Climate change is a public health problem, veterinarians are public health professionals, and, climate change and the promotion of planetary health are veterinary issues These kinds of activities cannot be conducted within a vacuum, and support from cross-sector collaborations, stakeholders, and policy are critical for veterinarians to be effective stewards in this area [4, 7]. The human medical profession, including specialist doctors and nurses, have established calls to action and incorporated climate change as an important issue into their professional society policies (Table 1) These groups have created coalitions and subsequent policy action agendas, excluding any representation from animal health sectors. Veterinarians have the opportunity to serve as “boundary-spanners” and “honest brokers”(104) using their roles as practitioners to share their knowledge about public health issues with policy-makers, educate the public on the impacts of climate change on planetary health, and bolster capacity for climate change resilience, adaptation, and mitigation. The AVMA Council on Education and the American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges should enhance public health related professional competencies to encompass this aspect of knowledge and make a commitment to including public policy and the practitioner-policy interface as key skillsets
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