Environmental justice through epistemic diversification: A critical reflection on One Health for just environmental public health

Environmental public health discussions embrace the significant role of the natural environment for the health of human and non-human living entities. This is exemplified in major, overarching and institutionally consolidated research and policy frameworks such as One Health, focusing on the intersection of human, animal, and ecosystem health. One Health promotes collaborative efforts across sectors to prevent and address health threats such as zoonotic diseases, antimicrobial resistance, and ecosystem degradation. In this article, its approach is outlined and critically examined with particular attention to its alignment with a predominantly Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic (i.e., ‘WEIRD’) worldview. The specific manifestations and implications of this epistemic orientation are analyzed in order to demonstrate how WEIRD characteristics are embedded in One Health thinking. Building on this analysis, the article shows how hegemonic asymmetries due to the One Health framework produce environmental injustices, rooted in and reinforcing epistemic injustice. By examining research narratives and global policy developments through the lens of environmental justice, the article reveals how certain ways of knowing and relating to the environment are privileged, while others are marginalized. This critique serves as the foundation for advocating an epistemic and conceptual diversification of the One Health approach. Unlearning WEIRD biases in One Health is proposed as a necessary step towards more just and inclusive social-ecological trajectories of environmental public health. Diversifying the epistemic grounds of One Health will lead to better alignment with environmental justice principles, fostering more inclusive, tailored, equitable, and environmentally just trajectories for public health.