Law and One Health: some coordinates for studying and implementing the One Health approach in the Italian legal system

The contribution seeks to identify key interpretative coordinates for analyzing, from a legal and socio-legal perspective, the incorporation of the One Health (OH) paradigm into the Italian legal system, taking as its reference the definition developed by the Quadripartite Alliance. The analysis highlights how OH operates at the intersection of health and environmental domains, functioning as a conceptual and operational framework that integrates scientific knowledge, institutional strategies, and legal instruments. In this context, the relationship between health protection and environmental protection emerges as a structural element of national legislation. The study proposes a tripartite distinction between the “right to,” the “law of,” and the “law for” One Health, enabling the articulation of its reception across three levels: the reinterpretation of subjective legal positions, the establishment of dedicated institutional arrangements, and the evolution of public policies and sectoral regulations aligned with OH principles. Despite these advancements, significant challenges persist. One Health is characterized as a form of technonomic regulation, grounded in the interaction between science and political decision-making, whose definitional instability complicates its legal implementation. Moreover, its effectiveness depends on a broader cultural transformation aimed at overcoming disciplinary and administrative fragmentation. Ultimately, OH regulation performs both a social engineering and a systemic coordination function, whose success relies on institutional capacity and the strengthening of trust among social actors.