Changing Glaciers and Hydrology in Asia - Environmental Health at ...

focuses on researching and monitoring the potential ecosystem and human health impacts ofdevelopment activities such as adoption of industrial or agricultural technologies, and of climatechange (particularly glacier melt/retreat). (This second type parallels the program approaches inSection 5.1 that relate to research into glaciers and associated water systems.)Such programs could be implemented as new programs or modifications to new or ongoingbiodiversity/natural resource management, food security and health programs that wouldincorporate these elements and synergies.Good examples of human health issues that would benefit from cause- rather than symptomfocused,prevention-based EcoHealth approaches are the diarrheal diseases that result frompolluted water. The focus on ecosystems for health would include managing the sources ofpollution, providing safe drinking water, and managing solid waste. Another example is shown inaspects of agricultural development (insecure land tenure, lack of access to new cultivars,tainted livestock feed, excess pesticides) that affect nutritional status.Sectors AddressedAlthough the focus is on integrating health of humans and ecosystems, such programs alsoaddress biodiversity, agriculture, and water.Illustrative ProgramsIllustrative programs focusing on ecosystems include the following:621. At the national level, interventions include the promotion of policies that focus onecosystem integrity and resilience. Such policies would promote landscape-levelmapping, planning and management; habitat conservation/management (predator-preyrelationships maintained to avoid emergence of disease vectors; community-basedmanagement, with special attention to local/indigenous knowledge); and the use ofnatural regeneration rather than re-planting except on the most degraded sites withprerequisite local control of access to common property resources (community-basednatural resource management/governance).2. At the sub-national level, working through regional authorities and local government,these ecosystem management activities could be integrated with water managementprograms such as streambank conservation to prevent erosion and sedimentation, floodplain management, and improved groundwater filtration; and forest and rangelandconservation/management with a focus on non-timber forest products that directlycontribute to food security, particularly food, fruit, forage and medicinal plants.Interventions at this level should be aimed at improving the understanding of theseissues, developing practical interventions that can be implemented in communities, anddeveloping the capacity of regional and local institutions to plan and implement them.3. Applied research is also needed to develop a better understanding of ecosystemmanagement for human health. This might include research aimed at an improvedunderstanding of the environmental, social, and economic interactions associated with