Geo-Resilience Framework
The strategic framework for global resilience architectures

East 🧬 Health & Biological risks


Health is more than care provision – it is an expression of systemic resilience. The eastern zone of the Geo-Resilience Compass focuses on those biological and infrastructural risks that often unfold gradually: zoonoses, pandemics, microbiological stressors and the fragility of supply and care systems.

Earth Observation (EO) is understood here as a strategic bridge between environmental and health systems. It enables not only the spatial identification of biological risks, but also the derivation of preventive measures, the stabilization of critical infrastructures and the interlinking of cross-sectoral data logic – without crossing institutional boundaries.

This compass zone finds expression in modules and concepts that foster:

  • the further exposure of zoonotic, pandemic and microbiological risks in order to close remaining gaps, with EO-based pattern recognition and environmental monitoring playing a decisive role
  • prevention and monitoring as a continuous process between environmental observation, health data and sectoral communication
  • the examination of interfaces between environmental and health systems, using EO as a bridge and amplifier

The eastern compass direction stands for anticipatory care: it is intended to create additional conditions for early response, systemic coherence and resilient supply security – supported by EO and embedded in an architecture that not only reacts, but prepares.

Zoonoses count among the greatest and at the same time most underestimated – risks of our time. They emerge where ecological, economic, and social interfaces interlock: in the transition zones between wildlife, livestock, and humans, in markets, in agricultural clusters, coastal settlements, or at inconspicuous points of contact such as water sources, waste sites, and broken fences. A single spillover moment is enough to shake global supply chains, health systems, and societal stability.

The problem: classical surveillance systems respond too late. The invisible pre-phase often remains uncontrolled. Whether we speak of animal diseases, environmental disasters, or social crises – time and again it becomes clear: our societies possess mechanisms of reaction, but hardly any true resilience strategies. Many structures are reactive rather than resilient.

The reality is alarming. African Swine Fever has reached Spain – a country with over 54 million pigs and exports worth 8 billion euros annually. Presumably, a contaminated sandwich, eaten by wild boars, was enough to trigger a cascade: military emergency measures, import bans, and the realization that no vaccine exists. Such outbreaks threaten not only agriculture but also the stability of supply chains and societies. (1) (2) (3) (4)

We usually react only when it is already too late. Early warning systems and edge zone triggers are missing or not consistently applied.


My goal is to close this gap even further. With strategic concepts, I want to contribute to developing an even safer multipolar early warning system that connects science, politics, and civil society and enables preventive action. Earth Observation (EO) in this context is for me not a technical add-on, but a strategic instrument: it illuminates the invisible bridges between environment, animal, and human – and we should be further empowered here not only to fight zoonoses, but to prevent them before they occur.

I will also develop a comprehensive concept for edge zone triggers, thresholds, resilience strategies and more. 



Source: 

(1) Ansede, M. (2025, Dec 3). Helpless in the face of the worst animal pandemic in history: African swine fever breaks out in Spain with no vaccine in sight. El País. Retrieved from https://english.elpais.com/science-tech/2025-12-03/helpless-in-the-face-of-the-worst-animal-pandemic-in-history-african-swine-fever-breaks-out-in-spain-with-no-vaccine-in-sight.html

(2) Kreiter, M. (2025, Dec 2). Swine Fever Decimates Spanish Pork Exports. The Food Institute. Retrieved from https://foodinstitute.com/focus/swine-fever-decimates-spanish-pork-exports/

(3) Yahoo News. (2025, Dec 2). Spain deploys military to control African swine fever outbreak after pigs catch virus from ‘infected sandwich’. Retrieved from https://sg.news.yahoo.com/spain-deploys-military-control-african-162710134.html

(4) Phys.org. . (2025, Dec 1). Spain deploys army after African swine fever outbreak. Retrieved from https://phys.org/news/2025-12-spain-deploys-army-african-swine.html







This contribution was authored by Birgit Bortoluzzi, strategic architect and certified Graduate Disaster Manager. The content reflects original interdisciplinary synthesis developed within the framework of the Geo-Resilience Initiative.