CETAF has formally joined the Crete Declaration, a new European commitment uniting major research infrastructures, organisations, and scientific projects to advance the One Health approach—a framework recognising the deep interconnection between the health of humans, animals, plants, and ecosystems.
Signed in June 2025 during a special assembly hosted by the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (Crete), the Declaration brings together leading actors across Europe to address urgent global challenges such as emerging diseases, biodiversity loss, antimicrobial resistance, environmental degradation, and the accelerating impacts of climate change.
A Collective Commitment to Science-Based Solutions
Through the Crete Declaration, signatories commit to strengthening Europe’s resilience and leadership by:
- Promoting multidisciplinary and cross-domain research
- Sharing data, resources, and expertise openly
- Supporting open innovation across sectors
- Providing integrated scientific evidence to inform EU and national policies
- Accelerating the adoption of new observational, experimental, and computational technologies, including responsible AI
These commitments aim to establish a coordinated scientific effort capable of delivering meaningful responses to the increasingly complex health and environmental challenges affecting society.
CETAF’s Role in Advancing One Health
For CETAF, joining the Crete Declaration reinforces its long-standing mission to support robust, collaborative science and to highlight the essential role of natural history collections, taxonomy, and biodiversity research in understanding ecosystem health.
By contributing expertise and data spanning Europe’s major research institutions, CETAF helps ensure that One Health strategies remain grounded in evidence-based knowledge of species, ecosystems, and environmental change.
Next Steps
The Declaration invites all European stakeholders—including policymakers, science clusters, and the private sector—to endorse the initiative and collaborate toward a federated and coordinated One Health research and innovation landscape.
CETAF will continue to contribute actively to the shared vision outlined in the Crete Declaration, working with partners across Europe to promote open science, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and long-term strategies for a healthier, more sustainable future.
Read the full declaration: