Biodiversity, Health and the Environment
Chairpersons:
Osvaldo Sala (Argentina)
Only in recent decades have humans begun to realize the tremendous impact
that their activities exert on the other species with which they share
planet Earth. Human activity has resulted in rapid changes in the diversity
of organisms by increasing the rate of species extinction by two orders
of magnitude, mostly as a result of land-use change, habitat destruction,
and the introduction of alien species. Future scenarios indicate that
biodiversity change will continue to increase in the near future. At
the same time, human health issues have changed very rapidly as a result
of the increasing scarcity of clean water, the accumulation of toxic
substances in soils and in the atmosphere, the occurrence of new infectious
diseases, and the re-emergence of existing diseases.
The Biodiversity,
Health and Environment project, jointly developed by SCOPE and DIVERSITAS,
addresses how changes in biodiversity affect human health issues, especially
as regards quality of life, medicinal and genetic resources, constraints
on infectious diseases, and ecosystem services.
Biodiversity and
human health issues were identified as major priorities by the countries
meeting in Rio de Janeiro for the UN Conference on Environment and Development
(1992). These priorities have been reiterated and their importance further
highlighted by the Secretary General of the UN. His message to the World
Summit on Sustainable Development (Johannesburg, August 2002), urging
governments to address five sets of priorities related to water, energy,
health, agriculture and biodiversity (WEHAB) stresses the need to go
beyond the sectoral approaches and to address these priorities in an
integrated manner if sustainable development is to be achieved.
In March 2005, a
group of 35 international experts met at UNESCO in Paris for a week-long
workshop to explore issues related to optimal decision making in the
context of short vs. long term benefits; biodiversity, food and health;
biodiversity interactions, global change factors, ecosystem management
and their impacts on human health and on human health policy; and biodiversity,
human health and sustainable development.
The synthesis volume
will be published by Island Press in the SCOPE Series at the end of
2008. It brings together information and perspectives from the natural
science and social science realms as well as the medical community to
explore the explicit linkages between human-driven alterations of biodiversity
and documented impacts of those changes on human health. The emphasis
throughout is
- to clearly distinguish
results of rigorous scientific studies from conjecture based on indirect
evidence or expert opinion;
- to encompass
the broader definition of health used by the World Health Organization
as not only physical measures, but overall well-being and quality
of life as well:
- to formulate
critical assessments of the trade-offs and synergies between human
well-being and biodiversity; and
- to explore potential
points of cross-over among disciplines, in ways of thinking and of
specific methodologies, which could ultimately expand opportunities
for humans to both live sustainably and enjoy a desirable quality
of life.
Last
up-dated May 2008