Biological diversity:
The web of life
Plant and animal species are disappearing fast - and the impacts on
human health are not well understood. All we know is that human survival
depends on healthy ecosystems.
According to Harvard Medical School's website, an eminent professor
once said about ants: "We need them to survive, but they don't need us
at all." The website goes on to state that this is true of "countless
other insects, bacteria, fungi, plankton, plants and other organisms".
The reason is that ecosystems depend on the multitude of life forms
which serve as checks and balances on one another.
The food, water and air human beings need would not be available
without the natural environment. Biological diversity is a crucial
component of that environment. It is the safety net that assures
ecosystem equilibrium all over the world. Indeed, it ensures our
survival. Accordingly, biodiversity is a precon-dition for human health.
This is true at several levels, as the World Health Organisation (WHO)
points out on its website. Relevant aspects include:
· Food production depends on the genetic diversity of cultivated
plants, and a diverse diet is good for human health.
· Biological resources are the basis for traditional medicines, which
are used by about 60% of the world population.
· Biological resources are also the basis for developing many
innovative phar-maceu-ticals. Accordingly, the loss of bio-diversity may
imply that active agents for poten-tially groundbreaking pharmaceuticals
are never even discovered.
· Patterns of infectious diseases change when human activities
disturb eco-systems.
The WHO argues that such disturbances "reduce the abundance of some
organisms, cause population growth in others, modify the interactions
among organisms and alter the inter-actions between organisms and their
physical and chemical environments".
Other international organisations express similar views. The
Montreal-based Secretariat of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity
stated in a policy brief of 2010: "Biodiversity loss and ecosystem
change can increase the risk of emergence or spread of infectious
diseases in animals, plants and humans, including economically important
livestock diseases, zoo-notic outbreaks and global pandemics." The
authors reckoned that outbreaks of SARS, Ebola and other diseases have
been triggered by human impacts on natural environments. They warned
that: "Without a greater understanding of disease ecology, there is a
risk that programmes to tackle infectious diseases may impact negatively
on biodiversity, through use of biocides and other chemicals and
wildlife culls."
The sad truth, of course, is that biodiversity is eroding fast.
Scientists speak of the "sixth great extinction". More species are
disappearing nowadays than ever since the dinosaurs roamed the Earth
before the fifth great extinction millions of years ago.
The trend is worrisome and, like climate change, a symptom of human
behaviour. Funding from advanced nations can and must contribute to
protecting biodiversity around the world. But aid is not the main way
forward. "All countries must ensure wise stewardship of nature, and to
achieve this, effective management is essential" says Peter Bridgewater,
a former head of the UNESCO Man and Biosphere Program and of the Ramsar
Convention on Wetlands.
In his experience, comparatively small amounts of money can serve as
catalysts for synergising local support - and that is often more
effective than investing huge amounts. "Chilka Lake in India is a very
good example, Tonle Sap Biosphere Reserve in Cambodia is another,"
Bridgewater says, speaking of the Ramsar Convention's small grants
program which involves communities that live on or around a wetland.
In his eyes, the lesson of big money not necessarily being smart
money has not been learned yet. At the same time, he is convinced that
donor governments will never come up with the sums that developing
countries demand. There is no doubt, however, that biodiversity is a
global public good that deserves multilateral attention.
Indeed, health, environment and development issues have been dealt
with at the four global conferences on human development and the
environment. In Stockholm in 1972, in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, in
Johannesburg in 2002 and in Rio in 2012. Many other significant
initiatives evolved in parallel. The 2008 Libreville Declaration on
Health and Environment in Africa, for instance, should not be shelved.
It recognised that Africa is the world region most vulnerable to
environmental change.
One of the Libreville Declaration's outcomes was the creation of the
Health and Environment Strategic Alliance. In the spirit of the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), its objective was coordinated
action by the health and environment communities so as to promote and
protect public health and ecosystem integrity in the development
process. This worthy goal must not be given up.
- Third World Network Features.
|