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. 

Building the sustainable healthcare movement

The Environmental Physiotherapy Association and Health Care Without Harm Europe are excited to announce a new strategic partnership to advance the sustainable healthcare movement. Health Care Without Harm (HCWH) Europe exists to create a sustainable healthcare sector....

The Uprising – An EPA regional roundtables event

Since the launch of the Environmental Physiotherapy Association (EPA) in mid-2019, the EPA has been growing steadily and currently unites over 1500 international members. With people in all corners and time zones of the world, speaking all sorts of different...

Gesundheit braucht Klimaschutz – drei Tage auf Messe und Kongress therapie Leipzig

„Irritieren und Inspirieren“ war gemeinsam mit dem Health For Future (H4F) - Slogan „Gesundheit braucht Klimaschutz“ unser Motto. Unser Ziel war, Menschen durch Bewusstseinsschaffung für die Auswirkungen der Klimakrise auf unsere Gesundheit zu sensibilisieren und...

【開催レポート】環境理学療法座談会 in Japan 2025

~気候危機がもたらす臨床の変化と、リハビリテーション専門職の新たな役割~ 2025年11月20日(木)、環境理学療法協会(Environmental Physiotherapy Association: EPA)が主催する「EPA regions roundtables in Japan」がオンラインにて開催されました。本イベントは、EPAが世界各地で同日に開催するグローバルイベントの一環であり、日本国内のみならず海外在住の理学療法士も含め、16名が集まりました。開催の背景と基調講演  ...

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