original

World Health Body Links Ecosystem Injury to Human Health Problems

From: Environment News Service <www.ens-newswire.com>

World Health Body Links Ecosystem Injury to Human Health Problems


GENEVA, Switzerland, December 9, 2005 (ENS) - Sixty percent of the benefits
that the global ecosystem provides to support life on Earth - fresh water,
clean air, abundant wildlife and a relatively stable climate - are being
degraded or used unsustainably with negative effects on human health, finds
a new report released today by the World Health Organization (WHO).
"Ecosystems and Human Well-being: Health Synthesis," explores the complex
links between the preservation of healthy and biodiverse natural ecosystems
and human health.


"Over the past 50 years, humans have changed natural ecosystems more rapidly
and extensively than in any comparable period in human history," said Dr.
Lee Jong-wook, director-general of the World Health Organization.
"This transformation of the planet has contributed to substantial net gains
in health, well-being and economic development," said Dr. Lee, adding that
not all regions and groups of people have benefited equally from this
process.


In the report, scientists warn that harmful consequences of ecosystem
degradation to human health are already being felt and could grow worse over
the next 50 years.

Dr. Carlos Corvalan is an assistant professor in the Department of
Agricultural and Biological Engineering at Indiana's Purdue University.
(Photo courtesy Purdue)


"The benefits should be acknowledged," said Dr. Carlos Corvalan of Purdue
University, WHO's lead author on the report. "But these benefits are not
enjoyed equally. And the risks we face now from ecosystem degradation,
particularly among poor populations directly dependent on natural ecosystems
for many basic needs, has to be addressed."


The Health Synthesis Report is WHO's contribution to the broader Millennium
Ecosystem Assessment, a four year series of studies and reports, involving
over 1,300 scientists, considering impacts on human wellbeing, past, present
and future.


Ecosystem services are absolutely vital to preventing disease and sustaining
good health, the Health Synthesis report emphasizes.


"Nature's goods and services are the ultimate foundations of life and
health, even though in modern societies this fundamental dependency may be
indirect, displaced in space and time, and therefore poorly recognized,"
writes Dr. Lee in his Forward to the report.


Many serious human diseases have originated in animals, and so changes in
the habitats of animal populations that are disease vectors or reservoirs,
may affect human health, sometimes positively and sometimes negatively, the
report explains.


Sometimes the environmental circumstances leading to disease transmission
are complex. For example, the Nipah virus is believed to have emerged after
forest clearance fires in Indonesia drove carrier bats to neighboring
Malaysia, where the virus infected intensively farmed pigs, and then crossed
to humans.


Intensive livestock production, while providing benefits to health in terms
of improved nutrition, has also created environments favorable to the
emergence of diseases, the report points out.
Increased human contact with wild species and "bush meat" as a result of
encroachment in forests and changes in diet also create opportunities for
disease transmission.


Trends ranging from forest clearance to climate-induced habitat changes also
appear to have impacted certain populations of mosquitoes, ticks and midges,
altering transmission patterns for diseases like malaria and Lyme disease.
Deforestation also endangers health by intensifying the effects of natural
disasters such as floods and landslides, resulting in reduced crop yields.
This impairs the nutritional status of households and diet deficiencies harm
children's physical and mental development. In turn, this can impair the
livelihoods of farmers and limit the options open to their children.
Pressures on ecosystems could have unpredictable and potentially severe
future impacts on health, the report states. Regions facing the greatest
risks include sub-Saharan Africa, Central Asia, parts of Latin America, and
certain areas in South and Southeast Asia.


Harm to ecosystems needed for human nutrition and safe drinking water as
well as dependence on solid fuels such as wood and charcoal are viewed as
some of the most serious problem areas.


Degradation of fisheries and agro-ecosystems are factors in the malnutrition
of some 800 million people around the world, the WHO report finds, echoing
the findings of many other reports from United Nations and nongovernmental
organizations. At least an additional billion people experience chronic
micronutrient deficiency.


Infectious waterborne diseases claim 3.2 million lives, approximately six
percent of all deaths globally. Over one billion people lack access to safe
water supplies, the report finds, while 2.6 billion lack adequate
sanitation.


Related problems of water scarcity are increasing, partly due to ecosystem
depletion and contamination, WHO warns in the report.
~snip~
.
.
--###--
complete articlehere