EGI Foundation Co-Authors the Crete Declaration, Uniting European Science for One Health

The EGI Foundation is proud to join its fellow co-authors in announcing the official release of the Crete Declaration: “Uniting Science for One Health”, a landmark commitment by Europe's leading research infrastructures to address interconnected global health challenges.

Coordinated by LifeWatch ERIC, the declaration represents a unified pledge from European digital Infrastructures for research dedicated to understanding our biosphere. It champions a collaborative, cross-domain approach to pressing issues like emerging diseases, climate change, and biodiversity loss, recognising the inseparable links between human, animal, plant, and ecosystem health.

The EGI Foundation actively participated in this initiative. Tiziana Ferrari, Director of the EGI Foundation, is a co-author of the declaration, underscoring EGI's strategic commitment to fostering large-scale scientific collaboration. Furthermore, Federico Drago represented the ENVRI-Hub NEXT project, which is coordinated by EGI, during the assembly at LifeWatch BEeS 2025 in Crete, where the declaration was formulated.

“I would like to express my appreciation for the LifeWatch ERIC initiative, which brings together European organisations in a coordinated response to One Health. The EGI Federation is proud to be among the signatories and remains firmly committed to uniting European efforts in concrete support of our society and environment. Collaboration lies at the heart of EGI’s values, and this declaration stands as a powerful call to collective action.” Tiziana Ferrari, EGI Foundation Director

One Health is an integrated, unifying approach that aims to sustainably balance and optimise the health of people, animals and ecosystems. It recognises that the health of humans, domestic and wild animals, plants, and the wider environment (including ecosystems) are closely linked and interdependent.

The approach mobilises multiple sectors, disciplines and communities at varying levels of society to work together to foster well-being and tackle threats to health and ecosystems, while addressing the collective need for clean water, energy and air, safe and nutritious food, taking action on climate change, and contributing to sustainable development. One Health High-Level Expert Panel (OHHLEP) One Health definition

The "One Health Quadripartite" partnership includes FAO, WHO, UNEP and WOAH.

The Crete Declaration outlines a shared ambition to promote multidisciplinary research, support open innovation, and provide robust scientific evidence for EU and national policies. Its core commitments include:

We invite EGI Federation participants and partners and all European stakeholders, including policy-makers, e-Infrastructures, research clusters, and the private sector, to endorse this declaration and join a federated approach to One Health in Europe.

Read the full Crete Declaration and learn more: