WORLD HEALTH BODY ECOSYSTEM INJURY TO HUMAN HEALTH PROBLEMS

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WORLD HEALTH BODY LINKS ECOSYSTEM INJURY TO HUMAN HEALTH PROBLEMS

Thu, 15 Dec 2005 20:09:43 -0500

 

 

 

 

 

Environment News Service, Dec. 9, 2005

 

 

 

 

WORLD HEALTH BODY LINKS ECOSYSTEM INJURY TO HUMAN HEALTH PROBLEMS

 

GENEVA, Switzerland -- 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.

 

" 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.

 

After cutting down the trees, charcoal production is the next step in

conversion of the Amazon rainforest to cattle ranching. Here a

charcoal burner's hut in the Brazilian state of Amazonia produces

solid cooking fuel. Burning it can lead to respiratory problems.

 

About three percent of the global burden of disease has been

attributed to indoor air pollution, a major cause of respiratory

diseases. Most of the world's population uses solid fuels to cook and

heat, a factor in deforestation as well as indoor air pollution.

 

On the other hand, health benefits are derived from having a full

complement of species, intact watersheds, climate regulation and

genetic diversity, the authors say. Stresses on freshwater sources,

food-producing systems and climate regulation could cause major

adverse health impacts.

 

" Human health is strongly linked to the health of ecosystems, which

meet many of our most critical needs, " said Maria Neira, director of

WHO's Department for the Protection of the Human Environment.

 

Neira says the report is a wake-up call for healthcare professions

around the world. " We in the health sector need to take heed of this

in our own planning, and together with other sectors, ensure that we

obtain the greatest benefit from ecosystems for good health - now and

in the future. "

 

Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2005.