The One Health concept: a comprehensive approach to the function of a sustainable food system

Abstract

The modern world faces the challenge of rapid economic/industrial development being based on the irrational use of natural resources. Likewise, the technical-technological and civilizational progress that humanity has achieved, accompanied by the increase in the human population, has led to environmental damage, affecting climate change, intensifying global warming and causing environmental pollution. There is no doubt that due to socioeconomic, political, health and environmental dimensions of sustainability, these processes are unsustainable in the long term. Moreover, if the world continues to use natural resources in accordance with the existing economic and demographic projections, by 2050, we would need three times the capacity of the Earth in terms of natural resources including energy. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are an important policy initiative, based on using clean and innovative technologies in a socially responsible manner that ensures poverty reduction, sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, ensures healthy life, and promotes well-being as a whole, accompanied by reduction of environmental pollution, proactive approach in the prevention of new sources and types of pollution and the protection of biodiversity. This review examines sustainable development aspects of importance from a One Health perspective, focusing on Serbia.