| Converging Paradigms for Environmental Health Theory and Practice Margot Parkes,1,2 Ruth Panelli,2 and Philip Weinstein1 1Department of Public Health, Wellington School of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Otago, Wellington, New Zealand; 2Department of Geography, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand Abstract
Converging themes from the fields of environmental health, ecology and health, and human ecology highlight opportunities for innovation and advancement in environmental health theory and practice. In this commentary we outline the role of research and applied programs that integrate biophysical and social sciences with environmental health practice in order to address deficiencies in each field when taken on its own. New opportunities for environmental health protection and promotion are outlined based on the three converging themes: integrated approaches to research and policy, methodological acknowledgment of the synergies between the social and biophysical environments, and incorporation of core ecosystem principles into research and practice. These converging themes are discussed in relation to their implications for new types of intervention to achieve health gains across different spatial and temporal scales at the interface between biophysical and social environments. Key words: determinants of health, ecology and health, environmental health, human ecology, multistakeholder processes, participation, socioecological systems. Environ Health Perspect 111:669-675 (2003) .
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