Planetary Health and Education for Sustainable Development: An Integrative Approach with Focus on Climate Change-related Human Health Risks and Their Thematization in School Contexts

Abstract

The Planetary Health (PH) approach addresses health risks resulting from anthropogenic climate change. It offers an integrative understanding of nature, whereby humans and their health are regarded as part of nature, and individual concerns are situated in relation to the interactions between society and the environment. However, this approach has not yet been incorporated into educational practice. Thus, this article presents the potential of PH for secondary educational measures from the perspective of Geography. Using the concept of system competence, this contribution illustrates how PH can be integrated into the established concept of Education for Sustainable Development. While previous concepts in the context of climate change have focused on mitigation, the examples presented are dedicated to adaptation.