# The Crete Declaration: Uniting Science for One Health

Christos Arvanitidis, Olga Ameixa, Alberto Basset, Eva Chatzinikolaou, Claudia Coman, Berta Companys, Francesco de Leo, Klaas Deneudt, Federico Drago, John Eriksson, et al.

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## To cite this version:

Christos Arvanitidis, Olga Ameixa, Alberto Basset, Eva Chatzinikolaou, Claudia Coman, et al. The Crete Declaration: Uniting Science for One Health. Research Ideas and Outcomes, 2025, 11, 10.3897/rio.11.e176120. [https://hal.science/hal-05363687v1](https://hal.science/hal-05363687v1)

HAL Id: hal-05363687

https://hal.science/hal-05363687v1

Submitted on 14 Nov 2025

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## MARIS B.V. (Project Blue Cloud), Nootdorp, Netherlands

□□ GeoEcoMar, DANUBIUS RI, Bucharest, Romania

« CESAM & University of Aveiro (Project GES4SEAS), Aveiro, Portugal

» University of Amsterdam, LifeWatch ERIC (VLIC), Amsterdam, Netherlands

^^ IMBBC, HCMR, Heraklion, Greece

SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (Project BGE), Lausanne, Switzerland

|| AnaEE-ERIC, Paris, France

?? CETAF, Brussels, Belgium

IFREMER, JERICO RI, Plouzané, France

ERINHA-AISBL, Paris, France

UFZ, eLTER RI, Leipzig, Germany

44 Pensoft Publishers & Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria

PP IO, HCMR, AQUACOSM-plus, MESOAQUA, Heraklion, Crete, Greece

AA EMSO ERIC, Rome, Italy

EATRIS-ERIC, Amsterdam, Netherlands

FF IOPAN (Project MARBEFES), Sopot, Poland

TFT CSC - IT Center for Science (Project BioDT), Espoo, Finland

Corresponding author: Christos Arvanitidis (ceo@lifewatch.eu)

Reviewable

v 1

Received: 26 Oct 2025 | Published: 04 Nov 2025

Citation: Arvanitidis C, Ameixa O, Basset A, Chatzinikolaou E, Coman C, Companys B, De Leo F, Deneudt K, Drago F, Eriksson J, Ferrari T, Georgiev T, Giuliano G, Gruber S, Habermann J, Heil K, Hubbard T, Huertas Olivares C, Kotoulas G, Koureas D, Manola N, Marrocco V, Pade N, Portugal Melo A, Provenzale A, Psomopoulos F, Raes N, Robinson S, Ruch P, Schaap D, Stanica A, Stavropoulos T, Teixeira H, van Tienderen P, Tsigenopoulos C, Waterhouse R, Aprea G, Boër M, Casino A, Delauney L, Ewbank J, Mirtl M, Pavlic-Zupanc J, Penev L, Piera J, Pitta P, Puillat I, Richter D, Stepanyan D, Ussi A, Węslawski J, Zuquim G (2025) The Crete Declaration: Uniting Science for One Health. Research Ideas and Outcomes 11: e176120.

https://doi.org/10.3897/rio.11.e176120

## Abstract

The interdependence of human, animal, plant and ecosystem health necessitates systemic, cross-domain collaboration to address global challenges, such as emerging diseases, climate change and biodiversity severe change. Through the Crete Declaration, Europe's (e-)infrastructures, organisations and projects that focus on the functioning of our biosphere commit to jointly advancing the One Health approach. In doing so, the signatories aim to strengthen Europe's resilience and leadership through the sharing of data and expertise, the development of innovative solutions and the promotion of evidence-based policies.

## Keywords

One Health, systemic approach, Research (e-)Infrastructures, organisations and collaborative projects, open innovation, policy support
## Preamble

We, the undersigned, representing Europe's large-scale Research (e-)Infrastructures, organisations and collaborative projects dedicated to understanding the living component of Biosphere, commit to joining forces to advance the **One Health** approach, recognising the intimate and inseparable link between the health of **people**, **animals** and **plants** and how they interact within **ecosystems**.

The world faces urgent, interconnected challenges — emerging diseases, epidemics and antimicrobial resistance; food safety and sustainable production; water scarcity, environmental contamination and **severe change** in biodiversity — all intensified by the widespread impact of climate change. These global threats demand a fundamental shift towards systemic, integrated solutions. Several major EU initiatives already address parts of these challenges, including the partnerships for pandemic preparedness (Be Ready Now), animal health and welfare (EUPAHW) and One Health Antimicrobial Resistance (EUP OHAMR).

One Health calls for a “whole of society” approach to health hazards and a systemic change of perspective in the management of risks with a long-term strategic vision for action. Research Infrastructures in Europe are in a pivotal position to **provide solutions** that are firmly grounded in robust science and evidence-based insights into the functioning of our living environment. Through collaboration and co-creation with users and stakeholders, research actors provide unified data and service integration and firmly commit to open science as a driver for scientific and social innovation.

## Our Shared Ambition

* Promote multidisciplinary and cross-domain research to address the most urgent One Health challenges;

* Unite our complementary strengths to provide information for EU and national policies with robust scientific evidence, embedding preparedness by design scientific knowledge into policies and practice;

* Support and advance open innovation through shared resources that enable technological and societal responses to human-induced and natural stressors, thus strengthening Europe's resilience and global leadership;

* Accelerate the uptake of emerging methods, including observational, experimental and computational technologies, with a special focus on the responsible use of artificial intelligence in One Health applications.
# Our Commitment

We hereby commit to:

1. **Strengthen Strategic Collaboration.** Invest in structured and sustained collaboration on One Health challenges and jointly engage with stakeholders and national and European funding agencies to prioritise actions and work on the realisation of common goals;

2. **Advance Data Integration and FAIR Principles for Open Science.** Ensure equitable access to relevant data resources, software, workflows, standards and protocols across domains (both technological and socio-economic);

3. **Support Open Innovation.** Establish trusted, inclusive platform for stakeholder engagement, accelerating innovation across public and private sectors in critical areas such as species and ecosystems conservation, sustainable food systems, antimicrobial resistance and water security;

4. **Inform Policy and Public.** Provide integrated scientific knowledge to provide information for effective, evidence-based policy-making and engage citizens. Policies anchored in reliable data are robust and, when rooted in societal participation, they will become more feasible, impactful and widely adopted.

# Next Steps

This Declaration was developed during a special assembly held in Crete in June 2025, hosted by the Institute of Marine Biology, Biotechnology and Aquaculture, Hellenic Centre for Marine Research. We invite all European stakeholders committed to One Health, including policy-makers, Science Clusters and the private sector, to endorse this Declaration and join efforts towards a federated and coordinated approach to One Health research and innovation in Europe.

# Conflicts of interest

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

**Disclaimer:** This article is (co-)authored by any of the Editors-in-Chief, Managing Editors or their deputies in this journal.