Connecting Global Priorities, Biodiversity and Human Health

This book is the new flagship publication under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) joint work programme on biodiversity and health co-led with the World Health Organization (WHO), in collaboration numerous international partners. It will serve as an important source of information to support the implementation of the emerging post-2015 development agenda and sustainable development goals of the the United Nations. It was officially launched at the 14th World Congress for Public Health held on 13th February 2015, in Kolkata, India.

The report demonstrates that the relationship between biodiversity and human health is extensive and complex. It outlines the ways that the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity has positive impacts on human health, including through impacts on water and air quality, nutrition, non-communicable and infectious diseases, and medicines, among others.

Jenny Roe was contributing author to Chapter 12: “Contribution of biodiversity and green spaces to mental and physical fitness, and
cultural dimensions of health”

The report recommends the creation of coherent cross-sectoral strategies that ensure that biodiversity and health linkages are widely recognized, valued, and reflected in national public health and biodiversity conservation policies; that implementation should be the joint responsibility of a number of ministries with the involvement of local communities; and suggests that the solution lies in uniting work in social and natural sciences through integrative and interdisciplinary approaches such as the ecosystem, ecohealth, and One Health approach.