Connecting Global Priorities Biodiversity and Human Health

(f) Addressing the unintended negative impacts
of health interventions on biodiversity (e.g.:
antibiotic resistance, contamination from
pharmaceuticals), incorporating ecosystem
concerns into public health policies, and
(g) Addressing the unintended negative impacts
of biodiversity interventions on health (e.g.:
effect of protected areas or hunting bans on
access to food, medicinal plants, etc.).
Promoting and maximizing the health benefits
provided by biodiversity for food security and
nutrition, water supply, and other ecosystem
services, pharmaceuticals and traditional
medicines, mental health and physical and cultural
well-being provide a strong rationale for the
conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity
and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits.
Lifestyles (such as diets based on low-fat, diverse
and nutritious foods), practices and actions (such
as integrated land-use planning to maximize
health benefits) will require educating, engaging
and mobilizing the public and the health sector
alike, including professional health associations as
potential, powerful advocates for the sustainable
management of ecosystems. It will also require
mobilizing organizations and individuals who
can articulate the linkage and the enormous value
proposition investments in sustainable ecosystem
management provide to the social and economic
health of communities.
In the sections that follow, some tools to achieve
these outcomes and additional areas for further
research are identified. These are not intended to be
comprehensive, but rather illustrative of the need
to further strengthen interdisciplinary knowledge
at the intersection of biodiversity and health.
A key element is adopting integrative approaches
such as the “One Health” approach or other
approaches that consider connections between
human, animal, and plant diseases and promotes
cross-disciplinary synergies for health and
biodiversity (see section 4 of this chapter). In
this context, the importance of preventive and
precautionary strategies for the management
of sustainable ecosystems to optimize health
outcomes cannot be overstated (PEDRR 2013).
For example, the chapters on disaster risk reduction
and climate change demonstrate the need for a
proactive approach to risk management by outlining
examples from a growing portfolio of ecosystembased
adaptation and mitigation measures.
“Enhancing disaster preparedness for effective
response” comprises the fourth priority under the
newly concluded Sendai Framework for Disaster
Risk Reduction (2015–2030); well-managed
ecosystems and the myriad of services they can
provide will undoubtedly play an important role
in achieving this target and removing, or at least
reducing, the effects of natural disaster events
on human life. The health status of populations
exposed to extreme events is equally central to the
overall success of the Sendai Framework, placing
the health sector at the centre of prevention and
mitigation strategies. The call for additional public
and private investment alone, which is the third
priority of the Sendai Framework, while essential,
will not be sufficient to strengthen health systems
or improve health outcomes.
Monitoring, evaluating and forecasting progress
toward the achievement of national, regional and
global targets at regular intervals against evidencebased
indicators, including threshold values for
critical ecosystem services, such as the availability
and access to food, water and medicines is critical
as further discussed section 5 of this chapter.
3. Priority interventions for the
integration of biodiversity and
human health
Romanelli and others (2014b) identified as of
priority interventions to facilitate the integration
of biodiversity-health linkages in relevant polices,
programmes and practices at the national level.
As they noted, the implementation of these
interventions will be largely influenced by
individual country institutional and financial
capacities, and shaped by competing demands
faced by health and environment agencies,
with often limited resources. In that light, they
suggest that a pragmatic approach is needed,
focusing first on those activities which require
little initial investment and which will gradually
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