香蕉直播

It always makes me shake my head and, deep down, it really gets to me. I鈥檝e watched it over and over in the Pacific: skilled fisherfolk hauling in pristine yellowfin tuna and beautiful coral trout, some of the healthiest food you could imagine. And then, almost immediately, selling it off to buy cheap tins of oily, salty, ultra-processed fish hauled in by foreign factory ships that are stripping the very same ocean bare. It鈥檚 more than a bad trade, it鈥檚 a painful reflection of how systems fail people, pushing them to swap nourishment for survival.

This single transaction 鈥� fresh for ultra-processed 鈥� encapsulates the chronic health crisis sweeping across the Pacific, and increasingly, the world. It鈥檚 a story of paradoxes: of abundance exchanged for scarcity, of traditional ecological wealth undermined by globalised food systems, and of seemingly well-intentioned development contributing to diseases of despair.

鈥淚n Fiji鈥� nearly one in three adults has diabetes. Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death. The rise of metabolic diseases mirrors a breakdown in local food systems鈥�

Associate Professor Aaron Jenkins

Obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease are no longer 鈥榃estern鈥� problems. In Fiji, where I am a citizen and work, nearly one in three adults has diabetes. Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death. The rise of metabolic diseases mirrors a breakdown in local food systems 鈥� and not just due to poverty or preference, but through the erosion of the very environments that once supported healthy lives.

As a planetary health researcher, I鈥檝e spent two decades investigating the deep connections between ecosystem degradation and human health. One of the most compelling lenses for understanding this relationship is the watershed 鈥� the land area where rainfall collects and flows into a common outlet like a river or bay.

In Fiji and much of the Pacific, these watersheds spill their watery contents onto nearshore coral reefs. These are not just physical units of hydrology. They are socio-ecological systems 鈥� complex, nested, dynamic. And in the Pacific, they hold many of the keys to understanding why communities are trading fresh catch for imported cans, and what we can do to reverse that tide.

From ridge to reef, and plate to heart

Watersheds help us see health in context. In Fiji and across the Pacific, we work with communities to map these systems from 鈥榬idge to reef鈥�, tracing how deforestation, commercial agriculture, and unplanned settlements upstream affect everything downstream. Everything from water quality, fish stocks, soil erosion and, ultimately, nutrition and disease.

In one village, we found that traditional fishing grounds had been depleted by sedimentation from upstream logging. The migratory fish that once made up the community鈥檚 staple diet 鈥� rich in omega-3s and lean protein 鈥� had vanished. Left with fewer options, families turn to cheap, shelf-stable imports: sugary drinks, instant noodles, tinned meats high in sodium and fat. Over time, these small daily choices became patterns and patterns became epidemics.

These aren鈥檛 isolated stories. Across the region, upstream ecological disruption is reshaping diets, mobility, and stress levels 鈥� all of which are key risk factors for metabolic disease. The CPC鈥檚 mission to address obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease is not just about clinical interventions or individual behaviours. It is about reclaiming the enabling conditions for health 鈥� and that starts with the environment.

Systems health, not siloed health

One of the hardest things to communicate about chronic disease is that it鈥檚 never just one thing. Poor diet is linked to poor soil. Water contamination drives infections that affect nutrient absorption. Heat stress influences metabolic load. Urban sprawl changes how we move, sleep, and connect. None of these risk factors exist in isolation.

This is why our approach 鈥� grounded in systems thinking and community partnership 鈥� connects biology, environment, society, and policy. We call it WISH: Watershed Interventions for Systems Health. Funded by the Australian Government, Bloomberg Philanthropies and implemented across the Pacific by universities, ministries of health, agriculture, environment and conservation NGOs, WISH is a collaborative effort grounded in Pacific communities for how to improve both chronic and infectious disease outcomes not just through health services, but through restoring the environmental foundations of wellbeing.

We test upstream solutions with downstream impact: reforesting degraded hillsides to stabilise soils and improve fish habitat; upgrading drinking water sources to reduce exposure to diarrhoeal disease; supporting agroecological practices that protect biodiversity and food security. These actions don鈥檛 look like conventional health programs, but they directly affect risk factors for diabetes and heart disease.

We also co-design research with communities 鈥� integrating Indigenous knowledge, local values, and lived experience. In one village, elders helped map watershed boundaries based on ancestral markers, not colonial cartography. In another, youth led photo storytelling projects to document their food and river environments. These place-based insights are more powerful than any GIS map or epidemiological dataset. They tell us what matters, and where to intervene.

Adolescents and the tipping point

If you want to know where this crisis is heading, look at the adolescents. The Pacific has one of the world鈥檚 youngest populations 鈥� and one of the most rapidly urbanising. Teenagers today face a triple burden: undernutrition, overnutrition, and environmental stress. And yet, global funding for adolescent chronic disease prevention remains vanishingly small.

We鈥檙e responding with a new transdisciplinary coalition: Healthy Places, Healthy Futures. Led by early- and mid-career researchers, this initiative uses planetary health as an entry point to better understand and co-design interventions that resonate with young people 鈥� not just for their health, but for their futures.

We鈥檙e investigating how watershed degradation affects the adolescent gut microbiome and long-term metabolic risk. We鈥檙e exploring how digital food marketing drives consumption of ultra-processed foods in urban settlements. And we鈥檙e elevating adolescent voices 鈥� through youth forums, co-designed solutions, and participatory research 鈥� to shape the policies that will determine their health trajectory.

From data to dialogue, from evidence to action

What comes next? While we鈥檙e contributing to the evidence base through research and publication, it鈥檚 clear that science alone cannot drive systemic change. To make an impact, we must translate evidence into something people can feel 鈥� a story, a place, a possibility. That鈥檚 why we鈥檙e working with journalists, filmmakers, and youth ambassadors to share these narratives. It鈥檚 also why we鈥檙e embedding systems research within policy forums including the biannual , the youth-led emerging Healthy places, healthy futures coalition and the Children and adolescents鈥� health and wellbeing in the Pacific both initiatives of the Charles Perkins Centre.

And most importantly, we鈥檙e working upstream 鈥� not just in rivers, but in the research ecosystem itself 鈥� to make sure the next generation of researchers are equipped to think in systems, act with communities, and communicate with clarity.

What the tuna teaches us

That fish-for-tin exchange may seem irrational on the surface. But it reflects the deeper dynamics of disconnection: from land, from tradition, from agency. When we restore the watersheds that nourish ecosystems, we also restore the relationships that nourish health 鈥� cultural, emotional, and biological.

If we are to ease the burden of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease we must look beyond the body to the systems that shape it. That includes watersheds, yes, but also schools, supermarkets, footpaths, and stories.

Our work as evidence-based researchers is to reconnect them: with humility, with science, and with purpose. Because no one should have to trade tuna for tins.