Show Notes
Liz Willetts has spent 20 years at the intersection of nature and health.
In this conversation, she explains why nearly 200 governments have been asking for integrated biodiversity-health indicators for over a decade, and why the scientific community still hasn't delivered them. About the guest: Liz Willetts is a science-policy expert on global governance of the health-environment nexus.
She has served as Planetary Health Policy Director at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, science-policy advisor to the Convention on Biological Diversity, and is a Team Leader, Editor and Writer at IISD's Earth Negotiations Bulletin. She is also a primary care clinician with experience in Micronesia, Central America, and the US. Key takeaways: 196 countries have called for biodiversity-health metrics through the Convention on Biological Diversity for decades, but the health and environmental science communities remain siloed, and integrated indicators still don't exist Even senior clinicians with 10+ years of experience may not know how to define "biodiversity", pointing to a fundamental gap in medical education The post-consumption lifecycle of pharmaceuticals, what happens when drugs exit patients and enter wastewater, represents a massive blind spot in both environmental monitoring and clinical training Timestamps: 00:00 - Introduction and Liz's background 03:00 - How environmental decisions are public health decisions 08:00 - Air quality policy as a biodiversity example (Copenhagen low emission zones) 12:00 - The decade-long gap: governments asking for indicators nobody has built 18:00 - The grand rounds anecdote: a clinician who didn't know "biodiversity" 22:00 - Plant blindness and the siloing of scientific education 26:00 - Chronic kidney disease carbon footprint and biodiversity 30:00 - Practical advice for national biodiversity-health strategies 36:00 - Held v. State of Montana: climate litigation as a model for ecosystem values 42:00 - The nature footprint of healthcare: a blank canvas 46:00 - Pharmaceutical pollution and the end-of-life gap 50:00 - What gives Liz hope References mentioned: Liz Willetts, "Metrics for Biodiversity and Health Policy Integration," PLOS Global Public Health, 2025: PubMed Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (2022) Global Action Plan on Biodiversity and Health, adopted at CBD COP16 (2024) Held v. State of Montana: Climate Case Chart Plant blindness (academic concept): Literature review 1999-2024 Pharma Pollution Hub / Kelly Thornber: pharmapollution.org Global Biodiversity Framework: https://www.cbd.int/gbf Global Action Plan on Biodiversity and Health: https://www.cbd.int/health/GAP.shtml Links:Liz Willetts on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liz-willetts-2336749/ IISD Earth Negotiations Bulletin: https://enb.iisd.org/ Joachim Almdal on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joachim-espeland-almdal-017a6973/ Frederik van Deurs on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frederikvandeurs/ Care Pathway Consulting: https://carepathwayconsulting.com You might also enjoy:Episode 092: Planetary Boundaries & Health with Mia Heide (WELA) Episode 098: Tackling Pharmaceutical Pollution: A Systems-Based Approach Episodes 023/024: The Biodiversity Crisis in Healthcare (two-parter)
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