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In May, WEAll launched a policy paper titled, “5 Pathways toward Health-Environment Policy in a Wellbeing Economy” which outlines transformational approaches in five policy areas that can offer a co-benefit – both to the environment and to human health. These five areas are Energy, Food, Healthcare, Education and Social Cooperation.
On June 8, the authors of the paper, Éloi Laurent, Fabio Battaglia, Alessandro Galli, Giorgia Dalla Libera Marchiori and Raluca Munteanu hosted an event to showcase the paper and open a conversation with Lorenzo Fioramonti who is the former Italian Minister of Education, University and Research.
Over the hour-long discussion, the authors and Lorenzo discussed the practical implementation of these co-beneficial policies.
Lorenzo, as a former politician himself, gave quite a lot of insight into what is needed for policymakers to design, advocate and implement these kinds of co-beneficial policies.
“Policymakers need catchy titles – they don’t have time to study” he says, “[the concepts] have to be easily understood and put in language that can be reused.”
He then goes on to address the framing of a Wellbeing Economy: “The economy we’re talking about is an expansive economy. It’s not an economy that gives up, but an economy that gains.”
When he speaks about advocating for an alternative economic system, he encourages us by saying, “Your message needs to be positive, forward looking. This is very important.”
Lorenzo touched on the framing that policy-makers often use, with the WEAllpaper going against the cost-benefit approach that is typically undertaken. Instead of seeing through a lens where you’re giving up something to gain something else, there is an alternative way. This is the concept of the co-beneficial approach. The authors of the paper remind us that we don’t have to choose between human health and the environment, rather, we can build policies that are co-beneficial to both objectives. To make this point heard, Lorenzo says, “it’s not a battle between more or less, it’s a battle for better.”
This quick recap only touches the surface of the discussion. If you’re interested in learning more, watch the full webinar here:
Next Monday June 28, WEAll is hosting another event with the authors that also features individuals from the case studies in the paper. We’ll showcase three of the case studies in the session which will unpack how they are able to reach these co-benefits in their work locally.
Find more information and register for the next event here
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