One welfare a framework to improve animal welfare and human well-being

6 Introduction

in a collaborative way of working, there are many opportunities to tackle

these aspects in more efficient ways.

Developing multidisciplinary teaching and research goals could be a fun-

damental tool for changing values and attitudes in different environments.

Enhancing educational work and taking into account humans, animals and

the environment could awaken different professions to the reality of the new

millennium, starting from the premise that sustainability is the basis for any

profession.

A unified concept helps to bridge the animal and human sciences

and to increase the efficiency of processes (e.g. people of different discip-

lines being better linked together to increase animal and human welfare

simultaneously).

Why a Framework?

One Welfare is a multifaceted concept that captures a broad range of

areas. A definition alone does not fully capture the essence of One Welfare.

Arranging the different areas within a conceptual framework helps to better

understand the multidimensional aspects of the concept. A framework fur-

ther develops the definition and lays down the multiple considerations

connected to the concept, capturing the many aspects of the links between

animal welfare, human well-being and the environment.

This framework is designed to facilitate collaborative work around and

between the different framework sections. The examples and descriptions

provided are not full literature reviews of each section, and not necessarily

self-limiting, but they have been developed with the intention of providing

an indication of areas covered within each section. Being a new framework

it will only be natural that, as the concept matures and evolves in society,

additional evidence, work programmes, organizations, etc., will develop and

hopefully serve in the future as additional good evidence to underpin and

help develop further the different framework sections.

Promotion of this framework should enable a wide variety of people to

see beyond the interactions and benefits of their own specific remit, looking

more broadly at the wider societal considerations and opening up opportun-

ities for developing or improving networks and collaborative set-ups.

One Welfare, One Health and the Benefits of Multidisciplinary

and Transdisciplinary Collaboration

In the same way that One Health supports and promotes a truly multi- and

interdisciplinary approach (Lerner and Berg, 2015), so does One Welfare.

Both the One Health and One Welfare initiatives encourage closer collab-

oration that can result in benefits in each of the areas they are applied to.