Foreword - IDL-BNC @ IDRC - International Development Research ...

Preface
Ecohealth Research in Practice : Innovative Applications of an Ecosystem Approach
to Health represents a stocktaking by Canada’s International Development Research
Centre (IDRC). It builds on the results from nearly 15 years of support for ecohealth
research, capacity-building activities, and networks. Created by the Parliament of
Canada in 1970, IDRC helps developing countries use science and technology to
fi nd practical, long-term solutions to their social, economic, and environmental
problems. IDRC does this by supporting developing country researchers, building
research capacity, and fostering the uptake and use of research fi ndings in policy
and decision-making processes in developing countries.
In 1997, building on decades of experiences in health and environment research,
IDRC initiated the Ecosystem Approaches to Human Health (or Ecohealth) research
program. Its initial aim was to support innovative research on how improved human
health could be attained from better natural resource and environmental management.
This approach went beyond the then-dominant “environmental determinants
of health” paradigm; it drew on developments in public and international health and
emphasized three pillars: transdisciplinarity, multistakeholder participation, and
gender and social analysis. This thinking has continued to inform IDRC ecohealth
programming and provided the foundation for the practices, experiences, and
achievements presented in this book.
Ecosystem approaches to health were initially widely disseminated in Health : An
Ecosystem Approach as part of IDRC’s In Focus series, which is openly accessible
online (http://www.idrc.ca/in_focus_health/). The booklet was launched during the
International Forum on Ecosystem Approaches to Human Health held in Montreal
in 2003. Originally intended for an audience of nonspecialist users of research
results, this small book written in layman’s terms was immediately taken up by
researchers to develop research projects and by academics to inform new curricula
(Communications Division, IDRC, Ottawa, Canada. Evaluation of the In Focus
Series, 2009 (unpublished data)). An unoffi cial textbook for implementing IDRC
projects, it has been translated into French, Spanish, Arabic, and Chinese.
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