A bold step toward a more resilient scientific future has just been taken with the publication of the Crete Declaration: Uniting Science for One Health in Research Ideas and Outcomes (RIO) (doi: 10.3897/rio.11.e176120). The declaration responds to a simple yet urgent reality: human, animal, plant, and ecosystem health are deeply interconnected, and today’s global challenges, including emerging diseases, climate instability, environmental contamination, antimicrobial resistance, and severe biodiversity loss, can no longer be addressed in isolation.
Signed in Heraklion, Crete, during LifeWatch ERIC’s Biodiversity and Ecosystem e-Science Conference (BEeS 2025), the declaration unites Europe’s (e-)infrastructures, organisations, and research projects committed to understanding and sustaining the living components of our biosphere. Their shared motivation is clear: to strengthen Europe’s resilience and leadership by integrating expertise across domains, sharing robust and interoperable data, by supporting innovation that can inform effective, evidence-based policy.
The Crete Declaration outlines the following four core objectives:
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Strengthen strategic collaboration across scientific domains and infrastructures.
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Advance data integration and FAIR principles to accelerate Open Science.
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Support open innovation, emerging methods, and cross-domain solutions.
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Inform policy and the public with reliable scientific evidence that can guide resilient societal responses.
By committing to systemic and integrated solutions, the signatories aim to accelerate scientific readiness, foster sustainable production and food safety, address water scarcity and environmental degradation, and promote coordinated responses to public health threats. The policy brief is the latest contribution to the LifeWatch ERIC Strategic Working Plan Outcomes collection in RIO, offering open access to key deliverables from leading research infrastructures.
OpenAIRE’s Role and Commitment
OpenAIRE strongly supports the Crete Declaration and its vision for a connected, interoperable, and openly shared scientific ecosystem. As a core enabler of Open Science in Europe, OpenAIRE advances cross-domain data integration through the OpenAIRE Graph, strengthening transparency and accessibility of scientific outputs and enabling knowledge pathways that cut across disciplines and sectors.
Building on this foundation, initiatives such as the Horizon Europe project OSTrailswork with research communities to link knowledge graphs, connect metadata practices, and support integrated, multi-domain approaches. The Metadata Validator, together with ARGOS for FAIR-aligned DMPs , create an interconnected suite that aligns datasets, metadata, and planning workflows. This ecosystem helps communities establish coherent FAIR-by-design practices that underpin One Health and other cross-cutting agendas.
We invite all stakeholders to engage with the Crete Declaration as it enters its endorsement phase and to join the collective effort to build a healthier, more informed, and resilient future for Europe and beyond.
Read the full Crete Declaration: https://riojournal.com/article/176120/
