The Planetary Health Alliance and the Planetary Health Chair “Amazonas” Announce New Partnership

In April, the Planetary Health Alliance and Fundación Pondera Global, on behalf of the Planetary Health Chair “Amazonas,” launched a new partnership to advance collaboration on human and planetary well-being. The partnership marks a mutual commitment to co-develop educational materials, guide scientific approaches, and convene events focused on regenerating our natural systems — centering indigenous voices, perspectives, and leadership at every stage.

The recently created Planetary Health Chair “Amazonas” researches and advances Planetary Health from an Amazonian perspective, integrating indigenous knowledge and community needs around issues such as public health and climate change. The Chair is rooted in the understanding that indigenous communities across Amazonia hold irreplaceable knowledge systems about ecosystems, medicinal plants, and the relationship between human and Planetary Health — and that addressing the defining challenges of our time requires those knowledge systems to lead, not merely inform.

The Planetary Health Alliance (PHA) is a global network of 570+ organizations, educational institutions, and research partners to mobilize and lead the transdisciplinary field of Planetary Health. Headquartered at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, PHA works through nine locally rooted Regional Hubs to advance education, support transformative governance, and mobilize global audiences to generate the will for systemic change.

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“This collaboration marks a vital step forward for the Planetary Health movement. The Amazon is home to more than 10 percent of all species on Earth, a vast pharmacy of medicinal plants that have shaped modern medicine, and river systems that regulate freshwater cycles across an entire continent. When we talk about the lungs of the planet, we must talk about it with the people who have sustained it for millennia. We believe that protecting the Amazon is inseparable from protecting human health globally — and that the communities living within it are not just stakeholders, but leaders of the solutions our world needs. The Planetary Health Alliance is proud to walk alongside Fundación Pondera Global in this work.”

Dr. Rachel Marcus
Executive Director, Planetary Health Alliance

“This agreement represents an important milestone in our shared endeavor to advance Planetary Health from the heart of the Amazon. Indigenous peoples in this region have demonstrated remarkable resilience, safeguarding their territories, cultures, and knowledge systems in the face of longstanding extractivist pressures that threaten both local and global health. Their leadership in defending forests, waters, territories, and biodiversity is not only a matter of rights, but a prerequisite for the stability of the planetary systems on which all societies depend. We are deeply honoured that the Planetary Health Alliance has chosen to walk alongside Fundación Pondera Global in this work, and we are committed to ensuring that Indigenous communities are not only consulted but are recognized as leaders and co-authors of the solutions our world urgently needs.”

Javier Valbuena
Director, Planetary Health Chair “Amazonas”