EPA - Ireland's Environment 2016 - An Assessment

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123 Chapter 8: Environment, Health and Wellbeing
Our Environment, Our Health, Our
Wellbeing
Introduction
Ireland’s environment is a fundamental and high-quality
national asset that provides a strong foundation for
healthy and contented lifes. Our most basic needs are
clean air, safe drinking water and healthy food. The quality
of each one of these is directly influenced by the quality
of the environment. It follows that preventing damage
to the environment arising from human activities also
helps to protect our health and wellbeing. Recognition
of the intimate interconnections between sustainable
environments and healthy lives was highlighted last
year by the United Nations and in the recent World
Health Organization report ‘Preventing Disease Through
Healthy Environments’ (WHO, 2016) whose Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs)1 are designed to foster
improvements in human health and wellbeing.
In this context, our “environment” is where we live, work
and play – our everyday surroundings. While Ireland’s
environment is generally good by international standards,
there are some areas where environmental degradation,
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and vulnerability to extreme events, can adversely affect
health and wellbeing. To formulate an effective response
we first need to fully understand and address the issues.
Health and wellbeing effects arising from a compromised
environment can range from immediate and short-term
conditions (such as stomach upsets from contaminated
water) to medium-term effects (such as stress from living
with noise and odour) and chronic effects that result
in illness in which environmental factors have played
a key role (for example, poor air quality can result in
cardiovascular disease).
Environmental hazards – biological, chemical and
radiological – can affect health directly through the
contamination of water, air, soil and food. The work of
environmental regulation involves preventing people’s
exposure to these hazards by minimising them or by
taking action when standards are exceeded. Figure 8.1
shows the range of environmental “harms” that can affect
human health and wellbeing through our built and natural
environments and via our consumption practices. These
harms can impact on the six core service needs for our
wellbeing: clean air, clean water, access to amenity, safe
food, stable environment, and safe shelter.