Planetary Health in the Local Community
Co-design of public health strategy for integrated water management in Wennigsen, Germany
This publication arrives at a perfect time and will feed into the development of a health goal (water quality) as part of the broader effort to better prepare the municipality of Wennigsen in northern Germany for the challenges of climate change and climate change adaption.
The working group has identified 7 clusters (thematic areas) one of which is health and education. Our next step will be to develop a more detailed background and rationale for health and education cluster goal, its objectives and actions. We have contacted the department of public health at Hannover Medical School and plan to collaborate on this workstream.
This publication from the Planetary Health Alliance will help ZWDP reach out to the medical, dental, pharmacy, physiotherapy and other health practices in Wennigsen as it provides key information and graphics on the ‘why’ and ‘how’. As a next step we are working on a flyer and letter to distribute to every health practice in the municipality.
We are excited as this work is a central aspect of encouraging the uptake of a planetary health and public health lens to support a broader approach to integrated water management by connecting water (Sustainable Development Goal 6) with other sectors and related issues for example water – energy nexus.
In fact many of the 7 clusters related to the targets of SDG 6 which allows us to connect to national policies and strategies, as well as education for sustainable development in local schools and their advocacy at global conferences (COP 30 Climate Conference and UN Water Conference 2026).
See municipality webpage for water management working group of the town Wennigsen and read more details and information of the working group, as well as a press release ‘Protection from Extreme Weather: Wennigsen is taking action for drought and flooding (geman)
About the publication
The publication was “created in partnership with the Planetary Health Alliance, Planetary Health is Public Health is a guide for communicating about environmental changes and their impact on human health.”
Click here to access webpage
The guide has:
- foundational information about planetary health and its connection to public health.
- best practices for communicating about planetary health with the public and addressing misconceptions.
