“If we observe the planet from the perspective of a hungry virus or bacterium, we see a magnificent banquet of billions of human bodies available, almost twice as many as there were not so long ago.”

With these words, historian William H. McNeill (1917–2016), in his research on the impact of plagues throughout human history, foreshadowed the explosion of potential epidemics in the contemporary era.

His perspective is not that of humans, but that of the virus. Humanity itself becomes an almost infinite reservoir in which pathogens reproduce. Humans turn into both the target and the environment where viruses proliferate, spread, and move, without barriers.

For this reason, the only way to confront such a challenge is to allow science to move, disseminate, and travel in the same way: without limits or restrictions.

This is why adopting a global scientific approach, considering the health of humans, animals, and the planet as one single entity, becomes the only viable path forward.

This is the vision of One Health, One Earth, an approach that recognizes the inseparable link between human, animal, and planetary health. A unified, global health paradigm that can emerge only by erasing divisions between disciplines, fields of study, and perspectives.

Since 2022, the One Health Award (OHA) has narrated this revolution in perspective. OHA has followed the journey of pathogens inside laboratories, explored millennia-old connections across the Mediterranean basin, and traced the mysterious frontiers of Africa.

In its 2025 edition (October 10–11), scientists from all over the world, alongside experts and policymakers, will meet to confront the theme of “New Geographies.”

These new geographies are not defined by territorial borders but by the pressures of climate change. The new frontiers are written by those who control water resources, which increasingly become tools of coercion between nations and levers in reshaping global power.

But the new geographies are also those of research and scientific knowledge. While parts of the West sometimes cast doubt on official science, other regions of the world are granting it renewed centrality, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Brazil, India, China.

These countries are emerging as new protagonists, strengthened by communities of researchers who have become key players in the prevention of emerging diseases. They are invaluable partners in addressing the most urgent challenges of the near future: from potential zoonoses to climate change.

This is why OHA brings together the most distinguished scientists from around the globe, including leading voices from emerging countries. Their contributions will help chart the course for how we should look to the future.

Indeed, from a One Health perspective, humanity faces challenges that may appear insurmountable: the effects of pollution on populations, the emergence of new forms of cancer, the impact of globalization on plant pathogens, and the links between economics and antimicrobial resistance.

Battles of this magnitude require outstanding scientists, massive investments, advanced technological resources, and above all, the capacity to collect, manage, and analyze vast amounts of data. Data that the scientific community must be willing to share across borders, walls, and frontiers.

These, too, are the new geographies to be explored through collaboration among the scientific community, institutions, and supranational bodies.

Otherwise, no one will be able to succeed alone.