A call for urgent action to safeguard our planet and our health in line with the helsinki declaration.

In 2015, the Rockefeller Foundation-Lancet Commission launched a report introducing a novel approach called Planetary Health and proposed a concept, a strategy and a course of action. To discuss the concept of Planetary Health in the context of Europe, a conference entitled: "Europe That Protects: Safeguarding Our Planet, Safeguarding Our Health" was held in Helsinki in December 2019. The conference participants concluded with a need for action to support Planetary Health during the 2020s. The Helsinki Declaration emphasizes the urgency to act as scientific evidence shows that human activities are causing climate change, biodiversity loss, land degradation, overuse of natural resources and pollution. They threaten the health and safety of human kind. Global, regional, national, local and individual initiatives are called for and multidisciplinary and multisectorial actions and measures are needed. A framework for an action plan is suggested that can be modified for local needs. Accordingly, a shift from fragmented approaches to policy and practice towards systematic actions will promote human health and health of the planet. Systems thinking will feed into conserving nature and biodiversity, and into halting climate change. The Planetary Health paradigm ‒ the health of human civilization and the state of natural systems on which it depends ‒ must become the driver for all policies.

The ecohydrological approach, SWAT modelling, and multi-stakeholder engagement - A system solution to diffuse pollution in the Pilica basin, Poland.

The reduction of diffused nutrient pollution from agriculture is one of the defining challenges of our time, demanding system solutions. A nitrogen and phosphorus (N&P) reduction strategy at the catchment scale is the most realistic and effective long-term approach to eutrophication management. In this study, a voluntary programme for the reduction of diffuse pollution was developed for the Pilica catchment and the Sulejów Reservoir in Poland. The Action Plan was based on the ecohydrological approach, which strives to use ecosystem processes as a management tool. One fundamental element of the Plan was a SWAT model, used to estimate N&P emissions and to determine the priority areas in the catchment. Strong cooperation between water managers, interdisciplinary researchers, and stakeholders helped to catalyse the capacity-building process of public participation, through dialogical interaction including a critical exchange of knowledge. Finally, a list of selected spatially-targeted mitigation measures was generated based on the modelling results and following measure acceptance by stakeholders. The key assumption in the creation of the measure list was that ecohydrological nature-based solutions (NBS) should be used complementarily to good agricultural practices. Such an approach has contributed to a faster achievement of 'good ecological status' of water bodies.