Negotiating Planetary Health, agency, and human tissue demand in the Anthropocene. The case of the global cornea shortage

When human tissue becomes a mobile, resourcified entity, its governability becomes uncertain. The debate over cross-border corneal exchange shows how health systems negotiate scarcity, ethics, and responsibility amid entangled conditions they cannot control.

The global demand for corneal tissue far exceeds supply, revealing disparities between countries that can meet domestic needs and those lacking infrastructure. While the World Health Organization promotes national self-sufficiency to prevent unethical practices, debates on transnational corneal exchange, especially among Australian clinicians and researchers, have intensified. This article situates these discussions within the broader context of anthropocenic health and planetary interdependencies. By analyzing recent scholarship on corneal export and import, we show how notions of scarcity and transparency shape eye banking policy and practice. The article highlights tensions between self-sufficiency and global solidarity as well as challenges of commodification and biopolitical governance. We argue that these debates expose the entanglements of ethics, agency, and resource allocation in the Anthropocene, extending Global Health perspectives through a more relational, planetary lens.