Advancing an environmentally responsible physiotherapy

 

The world faces complex and interrelated crises… Climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, rapid urbanization, geopolitical conflict and militarization, demographic change, population displacement, poverty, and widespread inequity create risks of future crises even more severe than those experienced today. Responses require investments that integrate planetary, societal, community and individual health and well-being (WHO 2021 Geneva Charter for Wellbeing)

 

 The impact of human activities on our planet’s natural systems has been intensifying rapidly in the past several decades, leading to disruption and transformation of most natural systems. These disruptions in the atmosphere, oceans, and across the terrestrial land surface are not only driving species to extinction, they pose serious threats to human health and wellbeing. Characterising and addressing these threats requires a paradigm shift (Myers, 2017)

Action at the level of direct drivers of nature decline, although necessary, is not sufficient … a sustainable global future’ is ‘only possible with urgent transformative change that tackles the root causes: the interconnected economic, socio-cultural, demographic, political, institutional, and technological indirect drivers behind the direct drivers (Diaz et al., 2019)

About

An international community of academics, clinicians, practitioners and students interested in exploring and advancing the field of environmental physiotherapy. 

Blog

Follow our latest musings on environmental physiotherapy. Ideas, inspiration, news, publications, events, and more. 

Join

Become part of the first international community of physiotherapists with an interest in researching, developing, and practising physiotherapy at a planetary scale. 

Resources

A growing selection of resources carefully selected by members of the EPA to inspire your thinking and practice of environmental physiotherapy. 

Does conserving biodiversity and restoring degraded ecosystems influence human health?

While decades of research show that degraded environments can harm health, and that exposure to green spaces supports human health, there is still a critical, under-investigated question: Can the conservation of biodiversity and restoration of degraded ecosystems lead...

Occupational Therapists for Environmental Action

The Occupational Therapists for Environmental Action (OTEA) is an American network of occupational therapy (OT) practitioners, researchers, educators, and students advocating for the profession to address climate change. Occupations are everyday activities that...

Together in Nature: Making Nature Accessible for Children with Disabilities and Their Families

Playing in and gaining exposure to nature improves child health and well-being, healthy child development, and academic performance, and encourages children to be stewards of the environment.   Children with disabilities often have difficulty accessing nature for a...

Ageing in place in the rural Arctic

Ageing is a natural part of life, but how we manage this phase can vary significantly depending on where we live. "Ageing in place" is a global strategy aimed at supporting older people to remain living in their own homes while maintaining connections with social...

If you have any thoughts, ideas or questions about environmental physiotherapy,
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