The One Health Platform awarded for its work in environmental conservation
During the same week as World Environment Day, RTVE will hold the presentation of the 2nd edition of the El Escarabajo Verde Awards, whose aim is to highlight work to conserve the environment in different areas of society.
The One Health Platform (Una Sola Salud) has received the award in the category of 'public or private organisation for its work to conserve the environment', for the vision with which it approaches health holistically by considering the three pillars that underpin it: the health of people, animals and the environment. The jury considered that this holistic vision is necessary to raise awareness of the importance of preserving the environment in the future.
Founded in 2021, the One Health (Una Sola Salud) platform is a nationwide network that brings together the efforts of national professional organisations, associations and foundations belonging to different fields. Its aim is to contribute to the necessary transformation required in health management to address the major health challenges of the present and the future. “The climate crisis and the severe drought we are experiencing remind us once again that people's health is conditioned by the health of animals and the health of the environment. Today more than ever, it is clear that we cannot continue to approach health from a perspective based on treating human diseases, and that we must move towards an integrated health management model that allows us to sustainably balance and optimise the health of people, animals and ecosystems,” commented Maite Martín, president of the One Health platform. “This recognition of our work encourages us to continue working to ensure that the One Health approach is genuinely incorporated into policies in order to achieve a greater good: protecting people's health, reducing health inequalities and preserving the sustainability of our planet,” she added.
The awards jury consisted of: Asunción Ruíz, executive director of the Spanish Society of Ornithology, SEO Birdlife; Elena Pita, director of the Biodiversity Foundation; Jacob Petrus, director and presenter of 'Aquí la tierra'; Pere Estupinyà, director and presenter of 'El cazador de cerebros', and Eduardo Laplaza, director of 'El Escarabajo Verde'
Other award winners include Pueblos Vivos de Cuenca as an 'initiative originating from civil society in support of the environment'; scientists Julio Díaz and Cristina Linares from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III and members of the Urban Health and Environment research group, in the category of 'outstanding scientific figure in the environmental field'; and singer Manolo García as an 'outstanding artistic figure for his work in support of the environment'.
This year, a new award has also been added: the 'Mària Sánchez Ledesma Award for journalistic work in support of the environment'. Mària Sánchez, an RTVE journalist and the creator and first director of the programme 'El escarabajo verde', died last March in Barcelona. This award in her honour went to RNE journalist Luisa Pérez Martínez, a prominent environmental communicator who has helped consolidate the current commitment of Spanish citizens to defending the environment through RNE.
'El Escarabajo Verde' is La 2 de RTVE's weekly environmental programme, which since 1997 has documented issues related to nature, ecology and sustainability that are essential for life on Earth.