PLANETARY HEALTH, PEACE, AND SECURITY

PLANETARY HEALTH, PEACE, AND SECURITY

By Beverly L. Longid

National Convener, Katribu Kalipunan ng Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas

Delivered during the Planetary Health Annual Meeting 2025

October 8, 2025 | Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Gawis ay agew ken datako amin. Warm greetings to everyone.

Unlike many of you, I am a newcomer—a green apple—in the planetary health discourse as it is framed today. But as I listened to the discussions, I realized how deeply Planetary Health resonates with Indigenous worldviews—particularly our belief that “Land is Life.”

I speak as an Indigenous Peoples Human Rights Defender, one who has faced threats, harassment, and intimidation from state security forces for standing up for people’s rights; and one who has witnessed war, displacement, and environmental destruction in Indigenous territories across countries.

Identifying the Roots of Conflict

Is there a nexus between peace and planetary health? What are the roots of conflict and wars?

From an Indigenous and planetary perspective, conflict and wars are not random. They are driven by historical and continuing colonialism, shaped by political and economic interests. This colonial legacy continues today through resource exploitation, land dispossession, and environmental destruction, which fall most heavily on Indigenous Peoples and working peoples.

Until we name these truths, we cannot hold the right actors accountable.

Truth and Accountability

When mines poison rivers, when dams dry up watersheds, when farmlands are seized for monocrop plantations or so-called “green energy” projects, when forests are cleared for tourism or massive infrastructure—these do not simply harm the land. They destroy lives. They displace communities, deepen hunger, and ignite tensions that often erupt into violence.

When people assert their right to self-determination, they are often met with militarization, state brutality, and grave violations of human rights and international humanitarian law.

If communities resist and take up arms to defend their land, they are branded as terrorists.

But when bombs are dropped in Gaza, Yemen, West Papua, the Philippines, and elsewhere, it is called world peace.

We have seen this clearly in our ancestral domains, where “development” often walks hand in hand with militarization. When we say “No Mines, No Dams” or “Our Lands Are Not for Sale,” we are branded as enemies of the state.

The Wounds of Militarization

When armed conflict erupts, the wounds are doubled.

Militarization pollutes ecosystems, uproots communities, and destroys traditional governance systems that have long sustained peace and balance.

Displacement breaks our ties to the land.

Ecological destruction erodes our resilience to climate change.

The cycle of violence leaves both people and the planet weaker.

On Youth, Women, and Climate

We know that climate stress and insecurity reinforce each other. Extreme weather and scarcity force communities into competition, especially where governance is weak and exclusion is deep.

More than two billion people live in fragile and conflict-affected areas. The climate crisis worsens their condition—it determines whether families can eat, children can learn, or youth can see a future.

Women, youth, and Indigenous Peoples bear the heaviest burdens, yet they are also the bearers of solutions rooted in knowledge, resilience, and solidarity.

That is why intergenerational dialogue and the participation of women and youth must be at the heart of peacebuilding, climate action, and planetary health.

Redefining Peace

We often say peace is not merely the absence of war. But we must ask:

What kind of war are we ending? And what kind of peace are we building?

Today’s wars are wars for global dominance and hegemony—wars of aggression for geopolitical and economic control, where the competition for human and natural resources lies at the center.

True peace, or a just and lasting peace, is not the silence of guns but the presence of balance—among human communities and between humanity and nature.

Peace means we can freely practice our traditions, cultivate our ancestral lands, and pass on Indigenous knowledge systems that have long protected biodiversity and sustained life.

Without peace, Indigenous Peoples cannot fully play our role as stewards of the Earth.

Challenging Greenwashing and War Economies

We must also confront greenwashing, where states and corporations hide extractive and militarized agendas behind “green,” “climate,” and “world peace” rhetoric.

War and militarization are not just social tragedies—they are ecological crimes, destroying the very planet we depend on.

Consider this: the cost of a single bomb dropped on Gaza can range from $25,000 to $500,000—funds that could instead restore forests, sustain communities, or feed the hungry.

Oppression breeds resistance. Resistance breeds change.

Interdependence: Peace and Planetary Health

A peaceful and secure world is essential for the well-being of both humans and the environment. Equally, a healthy planet is crucial for peace.

When forests thrive and rivers flow freely, when air is clean and soil is fertile, conflicts diminish. But it does not end with abundance—when communities have safe homes and equitable access to clean water, air, food, and secure land, there is less space for violence to grow.

If Planetary Health is about protecting the systems that sustain life, then peace must be central to its vision.

Let us act with urgency, respect, and solidarity to heal and regenerate—not only our people but also our planet.