The CUSP Cluster will participate in a parallel session on the contribution of pan-European research collaboration to evidence-based policies for zero pollution and health.
CUSP has been invited to participate at the parallel session organised by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research and Innovation (DG RTD) during the World Health Organisation (WHO) 7th Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health taking place in Budapest on Thursday, July 6th from 13:00 to 14:15 CEST. Registration is available to follow the session live online.
The session, organised by DG RTD in partnership with the European Commission’s DG Environment, the European Environment Agency (EEA), and the Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL), will focus on the role of the EU’s funded research in understanding the impact of different sources of environmental pollution on human health.
Environmental pollution is an increasing threat to human health, with recent assessments attributing 9 million annual deaths worldwide and over 10% of annual premature deaths in the EU alone to pollution.
The Ministerial Conference is aimed at defining “the future environment and health priorities and commitments for the WHO European Region, with a focus on addressing the health dimensions of the triple environmental crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and environmental pollution,” as described by WHO on their website.
The parallel session will highlight the extensive framework of initiatives under the EU’s Green Deal aimed at protecting public health from the impacts of environmental degradation. In this session, DG RTD, DG Environment, and EEA will present the available EU support for research and innovation for evidence-based policies in environment and health, the recent developments in major policy initiatives such as the EU Zero Pollution Action Plan and legislative package, and the key findings of the EEA 2022 Zero Pollution Monitoring Assessment.
More than 20 ongoing research projects – supported with an EU contribution of over €150 million and involving more than 300 research groups – are tackling the impacts of urban indoor and outdoor pollution, air quality, chemical exposures and micro and nanoplastics on human health.
Alba Hernández, PlasticHeal project coordinator, will participate on behalf of CUSP, sharing the floor with representatives from the European Urban Health Cluster, Green Deal Health Cluster and Indoor Air Quality Cluster in a panel moderated by HEAL to showcase the outcomes of these four large-scale collaborative initiatives and their potential to inform policy implementation measures.
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