Important facts
Over 75% of global food crops rely on pollinators, contributing between 23.5-57.7 billion US dollars per year to global agricultural production. 50% of modern medicines come from natural sources, including antibiotics from fungal and painkillers from plant compounds. It absorbs approximately 2.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, helping to mitigate climate change. Alien species contribute 60% of the extinction of the species, causing global economic damage of USD 423 billion each year. Healthy ecosystems provide 75% of the world’s freshwater resources, and wetlands play an important role in purifying water. However, since 1970, 35% of the wetlands have been lost. The Indigenues, representing an estimated 6% of the world’s population, are key stakeholders and rights holders in the conservation and sustainable management of biodiversity. They manage more than 38 million square kilometres of land worldwide, including almost 40% of all protected areas.
overview
Biodiversity, inter-organism variability from all sources, supports all life on Earth. This includes diversity across species, interspecies, and ecosystems, as well as the genetic makeup of plants, animals, and microorganisms, and ecosystem complexity.
Healthy communities are maintained by functional ecosystems that provide important services such as clean air, freshwater, natural medicines, and food security. These ecosystems help regulate diseases and stabilize the climate. For example, forests absorb more than 2.6 billion tonnes of CO2 each year, contributing to climate regulations and reducing the incidence of pollution-related diseases. However, biodiversity losses are accelerating at an unprecedented rate, putting around one million species at risk of extinction, threatening these critical services and exacerbating public health risks worldwide.
Impact
People rely on biodiversity in many ways. Human health is the regulation of ecosystem resources, products, and services (regulation of crop pests and diseases, including freshwater, food, and fuel sources, and the air, water and soil quality required for health and productive livelihoods). It depends on. Ecosystem losses can have a significant and direct health impact if ecosystem services no longer meet social needs. Ecosystem changes can affect livelihoods, income, and local migration, and can cause or increase political conflict.
A deeper understanding of the biodiversity of the planet will lead to important medical and pharmacological discoveries. Biological diversity of microorganisms, flora and fauna offers broad benefits to biological, health, and pharmacological sciences. It is also a source of traditional and complementary medicines.
Biodiversity losses have a profound economic impact, particularly in sectors such as agriculture, fisheries and healthcare. The global economic impact of biodiversity losses is estimated to increase to US$10 trillion per year, including increased disease transmission and healthcare costs due to agricultural losses caused by pollinators. For example, the decline in the population of honeybees, which are responsible for pollinating crops over US$235 billion per year, poses a threat to global food security and nutrition.
Biodiversity and health threats
Biodiversity losses occur at an astonishing rate, with recent estimates showing that species extinction is currently 10-100 times higher than natural baselines. This is primarily due to human activities such as deforestation, habitat fragmentation, and climate change. This loss threatens important ecosystem services such as pollination, soil fertility, and water purification, and has direct consequences for human health. For example, the decomposition of freshwater filtering wetlands has reduced the global wetlands by 35% since 1970, increasing waterborne diseases, and lowering the availability of water to more than 2 billion people.
Biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation are becoming major health concerns. When ecosystems are destroyed, services such as clean air, water, and food can be affected. Additionally, you will lose valuable natural resources (such as plants and animals) that may retain undeveloped benefits for health and medicine.
A sustainable, healthy food system
Biodiversity serves as the basis for healthy, sustainable food systems. A diverse range of plant and animal species, ecosystems, and genetic resources directly affects food availability and nutritional value as they contribute to healthier and resilient food production. Enough nutritional value and access to diverse foods are fundamental determinants of health.
Nutrition and biodiversity are interrelated at various levels from ecosystems that provide food to within-species genetic diversity. This diversity affects the nutritional composition of foods, including the availability of micronutrients. A healthy diet with a proper nutritional intake depends on high biodiversity.
Biodiversity provides a genetic pool for developing resilient and sustainable food crops, livestock and marine species. It plays an important role in breeding varieties that are resistant to pests, diseases and climates. Utilizing this genetic potential will increase agricultural productivity and resilience, reduce reliance on chemical inputs, and promote sustainable practices. This not only improves food quality, but also supports the health and well-being of the community.
Biodiversity supports key ecosystem services such as soil fertility, natural pest control, pollination and water regulation. Preserving biodiversity in agricultural landscapes promotes a sustainable food system that can produce nutritious foods while minimizing environmental impacts.
However, intensified food production practices have an impact on global nutrition and health. Biodiversity degradation occurs through activities such as irrigation, fertilizers and pesticides overuse. Habitat simplification (selective removal of species such as monoculture) and species losses increase vulnerability and highlight the need for biodiversity-friendly practices to support food security and public health. Masu.
Health research and traditional medicine
Traditional medicine continues to play an important role in health care, particularly in the primary health care setting. It is estimated that 60% of the world’s population uses traditional medicines. Among the various modalities of traditional medicine, the use of medicinal plants stands out as the most common in the world. Medicinal plants are obtained through wild collection and cultivation, providing communities and indigenous people with natural products that are useful for medicinal, cultural, and even nutritional purposes.
Infectious diseases
Human activities disrupt biodiversity and ecosystems, affecting their structure and function. Deforestation, land use changes, habitat loss and fragmentation, population growth, climate change, pollution, invasive invasive species, migration, trade and other drivers all play a role in disease patterns. These disorders alter organism abundance, population dynamics, and ecological interactions, ultimately affecting infectious diseases. Increased contact between wildlife, livestock and people leads to an increased risk of disease transmission.
Biodiversity plays an important role in disease regulation by maintaining a balanced ecosystem that is not dominated by a single species. This balance helps limit the spreading of zoonotic diseases (infections that jump from animals to humans). Recent studies estimate that over 75% of emerging infectious diseases such as Ebola and Nipah virus are zoonotic diseases, often occurring in areas where ecosystems and habitats are destroyed by deforestation and land use changes It’s been done. By maintaining ecosystems, ecosystems can buffer humans from the risk of exposure to disease reservoirs.
Climate change
Climate is an integral part of ecosystem functioning, and human health is directly and indirectly affected by changes in the climate state of terrestrial, aquatic and marine ecosystems.
Biodiversity directly affects climate change and change, and extreme weather phenomena (drought, floods) that directly affect ecosystem health, productivity, ecosystem productivity, and availability of services for human use. is affected by: Marine biodiversity is affected by marine acidification, which is related to the level of carbon in the atmosphere. Long-term climate changes affect ecosystem survival and health, and change in the distribution of plants, pathogens, animals, and even human habitats. In addressing these challenges, we recognize the possibility that the potential of an ecosystem-based approach, also known as an ecosystem-based solution, can mitigate and adapt the impact of climate change on biodiversity and human health. is increasing.
Ecosystems such as forests and wetlands act as natural carbon sinking, CO2 absorption, and global temperature regulation. Destruction of these ecosystems accelerates climate change and leads to increased climate-related health risks, such as heat waves, floods, and spreading of vector-borne diseases such as heat stress, malnutrition, and malaria and dengue fever.
Who will respond
Those who develop biodiversity-based public health plans, a summary of global evidence on biodiversity and health, will help assess health vulnerability from biodiversity loss and for all Monitors biodiversity-based health policies to support human rights, equality and health.
The WHO Global Center for Traditional Medicine supports traditional knowledge systems within a rights-based framework that promotes sustainable health practices.
Advocates for strengthening health systems integrate biodiversity into public health policies through one health approach, including infectious and non-communicable diseases, food safety, security, and antibacterial resistance (AMR) ) advocates for strengthening climate and biodiversity resistance by addressing the following: – A government-wide approach based on equity, a society-wide approach.
Who promotes inter-sector collaboration by providing training, guidance and support in biodiversity-based health policy. The expert working group on biodiversity, climate change, single health, and nature-based solutions is developing evidence-based strategies to address the loss of biodiversity and its health impacts. Further collaboration with the Nature for Health (N4H) initiative will be achieved. It is working to prevent pandemic risks at sources to tackle biodiversity loss and climate change by promoting policy and capacity building in line with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
