Read our five-year plan to reduce the impact of our services, reinforce the connection between a healthy planet and communities, create a climate-resilient health system and build a culture of social and environmental sustainability.
The climate and ecological crisis is a big problem that affects how healthy we are. It is the most important health challenge we face in this century. We’ve already seen really bad things happen because of it, such as wildfires, super hot weather and floods. These things make us sick, so it’s not just about the environment, it’s also about our health.
The good news is that this crisis gives us an opportunity to make things better. We can use it to fix problems that have been around for a long time while making people healthier. By doing things to help the environment, such as stopping pollution and taking care of nature, we can make our communities safer and healthier.
That’s why Fraser Health is excited to share our new Planetary Health strategy. This plan recognizes that our health is connected to health of our environment and nature.
When we take care of the Earth, we are also taking care of ourselves.
Watch the video below to learn how we're strengthening our commitment to Planetary Health.
The four key pillars of our plan
Below are the four main areas our Planetary Health strategy will focus on over the next five years:
- Reduce the impact of our services on the planet: We will lower our greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution, use our resources efficiently and decrease health system waste.
- Create a climate-resilient health system: We will use what we know about the changing climate to prepare our staff and medical staff and adapt for future climate-related challenges.
- Reinforcing the connection between planetary health and healthy communities: We will use our spending, employment opportunities and land in ways that promote healthier communities.
- Cultivate a culture and system of social and environmental sustainability: We will work to foster planetary health expertise and capacity throughout our organization.
The importance of Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge
We recognize that Indigenous people have been taking care of these lands since time long past.
Understanding and respectfully incorporating the knowledge they have about the environment and nature is an important part of this plan. As we put our plan into action, we will continue to talk with our Indigenous leaders and partners to ensure we are making appropriate and culturally-safe decisions.
Read our strategy: Fraser Health’s Planetary Health strategy