Environmental health (natural capital, environmental services, sustainability, environmental quality)

What is this domain – and what does it tell us about wellbeing?

Having a healthy environment is important to human wellbeing: having access to environmental services such as clean water and air, and healthy soil that can grow food and fibre needed for sustenance, is essential to life. Some wellbeing frameworks also now explicitly recognise that wellbeing frameworks should consider and value the wellbeing of non-humans, and include measures of health of the natural world to ensure a focus on supporting the wellbeing of all, rather than focusing on human wellbeing.

This domain may include indicators measuring a range of aspects of environmental health (e.g. biodiversity, health of local ecosystems, water quality, air quality, access to nature areas for spiritual, cultural and recreational practices). It may also measure how humans are changing environmental health – through investing in improving sustainability of activities, acting to support environmental health, or through activities that may harm environmental health.

Connections to other domains

This domain is sometimes combined with domains examining Resilience and adaptation to change, and often shares some indicators with domains examining Amenity and liveability.

Indicator options 

• Water quality
• Air quality
• Soil health
• Land and water stewardship
• Biodiversity
• Ecosystem/landscape health