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Soil microbiomes must be explicitly included in One Health policy

Nature Microbiology volume 8, pages 1367–1372 (2023)Cite this article

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An integrated science–policy–society interface that explicitly considers soil microbiomes is needed to achieve One Health goals.

“One Health is an integrated and unifying approach that aims to sustainably balance and optimize the health of people, animals and ecosystems”1. It proposes a global strategy to monitor and manage infectious diseases and antimicrobial resistance (AMR), utilizing transdisciplinary approaches for human, animal and environmental health. Despite 18 years of its existence, we have seen a significant increase in the spread and emergence of diseases driven by operational inefficiency (for example, resource availability and distribution), particularly at regional and local levels2,3. The severity of the situation is further exacerbated by environmental pollution and climate change, including extreme weather events, biodiversity loss and globalized trade and travel. A wider acknowledgement of various environmental factors, the services that they provide, and their potential benefits and risks for human and animal health is urgently needed. This will ensure that cost-effective and environmentally sustainable approaches are used for the management of One Health issues4. In recent years, efforts that take an integrative approach — for example, the United Nation Environment Programme (UNEP) joining the One Health approach — re-emphasize the critical role of the environment in the One Health concept1. However, key gaps remain. Here, we propose that broader adoption of system-based approaches, with explicit inclusion of soil health and in particular its microbiome (including bacteria, archaea, microbial eukaryotes and viruses), is required for the success of the One Health approach and its associated policies.

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Fig. 1: The microbial loop in One Health.
Fig. 2: A framework to include soil microbiomes in One Health policy.

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Acknowledgements

Soil microbiome and One Health research in the lab of B.K.S. is funded by the Australian Research Council (DP230101448). The views expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. We also acknowledge some input from K. Callens (FAO).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Penrith, New South Wales, Australia

    Brajesh K. Singh & Zhen-Zhen Yan

  2. Global Centre for Land-Based Innovation, Western Sydney University, Penrith, New South Wales, Australia

    Brajesh K. Singh

  3. WHO Collaborating Centre for Vector Borne and Neglected Tropical Diseases, College of Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia

    Maxine Whittaker

  4. Global Soil Partnership, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy

    Ronald Vargas

  5. Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy, Potsdam, Germany

    Ahmed Abdelfattah

Authors
  1. Brajesh K. Singh
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  2. Zhen-Zhen Yan
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  3. Maxine Whittaker
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  4. Ronald Vargas
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  5. Ahmed Abdelfattah
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Contributions

B.K.S. conceived the idea and wrote the first draft of the Comment All authors contributed to the discussion and refining the Comment.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Brajesh K. Singh.

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Competing interests

B.K.S. serves on the ITPS (unpaid voluntary position). R.V. works for the FAO. The other authors declare no competing interests.

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Nature Microbiology thanks Lucas Mendes, Nicola Holden, Peter Rabinowitz and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Singh, B.K., Yan, ZZ., Whittaker, M. et al. Soil microbiomes must be explicitly included in One Health policy. Nat Microbiol 8, 1367–1372 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-023-01386-y

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