Event highlights
Fostering a better understanding of how behavioural and cultural insights (BCI) can enable shifts to more sustainable behaviours
21 February 2024
This Bonn Dialogue, stemming from a collaboration between the WHO European Centre for Environment and Health and WHO/Europe’s BCI Unit, spotlighted innovation, documentation and knowledge exchange as drivers of an effective application of BCI in the context of environment and health.
The key takeaway from the meeting was that behaviours are at the heart of environment and health challenges.
WHO/Europe experts on BCI highlighted policy considerations for the process of applying BCI to environment and health, as well as areas where BCI-related methods have an important role to play in achieving a cleaner environment and the associated health gains. They emphasized the importance of enabling, supporting and promoting behaviours in ways that are tailored to the needs and circumstances of those affected.
In a panel discussion, experts from Finland, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the European Commission shared experiences of using BCI in relation to climate change, COVID-19 and emergency preparedness, and health-promoting forests, as well as in the context of the European Commission’s “Zero pollution action plan”.
Panel members stressed the need for more evidence-based approaches to tackle environment and health challenges, and recognized the potential of using BCI to enable positive behaviour change.
Opened by Tamar Gabunia, First Deputy Minister of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Labour, Health and Social Affairs of Georgia, and Robb Butler, Director of the Division of Communicable Diseases, Environment and Health at WHO/Europe, the event was attended by more than 200 people from across the WHO European Region.
Participants included representatives of the Environment and Health Task Force; national BCI focal points; and representatives of stakeholders working on BCI for environment and health policies in national, regional and local governments, including youth representatives and representatives of subnational and local levels of government.
WHO/Europe will follow up on the Bonn Dialogue with the publication of a policy brief on applying BCI to environment and health, as well as an online training module on the same topic.
Framing action within the European Environment and Health Process
The 2023 Budapest Declaration and its “Roadmap for healthier people, a thriving planet, and a sustainable future 2023–2030” committed Member States to accelerate the transition towards healthier, more resilient and sustainable societies. Our behaviours and actions, at the societal and individual level, will play a significant role in the coming years in the achievement of these objectives, complementing institutional processes and creating bottom-up pressure on governments.
Event notice
1 January 2024
Background and introduction to the topic
Behaviours are central to many environment and health (EH) challenges. Actions taken by individuals and communities, and decision-makers within governments, commerce, industry and health services significantly impact the future of our environment and health. Behavioural and cultural insights (BCI) provide an approach to systematically understand behaviour and facilitate the changes needed to disrupt the negative impacts and promote the positive effects of environmental changes on our health. A Bonn Dialogue event has been organized to explore how the BCI approach can improve EH outcomes through understanding the behavioural and cultural determinants of EH, creating more evidence-based and cost-effective policies and interventions that promote, enable and support behaviours for a healthier and more sustainable future.
Event details
The WHO Regional Office for Europe, under the auspices of the European Environment and Health Process, is holding the seventh high-level Bonn Dialogue on Environment and Health.
The main objectives of this Dialogue are:
- to explore opportunities for advancing the use of BCI approaches to EH;
- to identify challenges in relation to this and how to overcome them;
- to highlight inspirational work and case examples and tools for accelerated use of BCI approaches to EH;
- to facilitate the exchange of views on policy opportunities.
This online event is open to members of the Environment and Health Task Force; anyone working on BCI EH policies in national, regional and local governments; relevant stakeholders; youth; and the general public.
The Dialogue will be held in English with simultaneous translation into Russian.
You can join via Zoom by registering at the provided link.