August 23, 2023 – Liz Willetts, visiting scholar and planetary health policy director at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, co-authored a remark in The Lancet about how nations can align their biodiversity insurance policies to optimize outcomes for each biodiversity and well being.

Q: How does the decline of biodiversity affect global public health?

A: Biodiversity is prime to the bodily and psychological well-being of not solely people however all of species on Earth—as a result of once we lose biodiversity, we’re dropping key cogs that assist high-quality air, water, soil, meals, and extra.

Unfortunately, this isn’t a hypothetical state of affairs—it’s our current actuality. We are experiencing a internet nature loss day-after-day worldwide, which is harming ecosystems across the globe. This steady injury is harming habitats that present medical remedies—notably for the almost 80% of the worldwide inhabitants who depend on pure cures for fundamental illnesses and easy illnesses. These habitats additionally present alternatives for bodily exercise, calm locations to assist relieve stress, nutritious food and clear water, and extra vital well being advantages.

Biodiversity loss is a serious disaster by itself, however the hazard will increase even additional once we take a look at how this problem interacts with different planetary issues together with climate change, air pollution, rising health inequities, and rising pandemic threats. These are converging dangers and have to be addressed by converging options.

Q: What are a number of the largest obstacles to preserving biodiversity?

A: The want for motion to guard biodiversity has obtained vital international consideration. Last yr, 196 authorities events to the Convention on Biological Diversity dedicated to updating their nationwide biodiversity methods and motion plans by the tip of 2024. However, a lot is required to translate this into complete motion.

One key drawback is that the constructions for sharing data on biodiversity and well being want enchancment. For instance, pollution are sometimes assessed underneath one division whereas illnesses related to these pollution are assessed underneath one other, with restricted overlap or coordination. Similarly, novel interdisciplinary considering or revolutionary cross-sector collaborations—comparable to making the connection between nutritious diets and biodiversity conservation—might exist in a single authorities’s technique however isn’t being shared with different governments. We want extra platforms to share finest practices.

Another problem is that sure sectors of our society, together with well being and public well being, don’t absolutely acknowledge their very own impacts on biodiversity and the downstream penalties of their actions. For instance, a hospital’s air pollution—comparable to greenhouse gasoline emissions from excessive power use or wastewater pollution—can hurt ecosystems and produce about long-term well being penalties for the affected person inhabitants. Biodiversity isn’t just necessary for ecologists and subject biologists; all sectors want to acknowledge their duty. We want a multi-pronged coverage strategy with contributions from all kinds of actors.

Q: What instruments do we now have at our disposal to handle biodiversity loss?

A: If the unhealthy information is that we now have not but introduced our full sources to bear on preserving biodiversity, the excellent news is that there’s low-hanging fruit obtainable that may make a big affect.

Our latest remark in The Lancet recognized six targets within the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework—the bold international settlement on biodiversity targets adopted at COP15, the UN Biodiversity Conference held in December 2022—that want collaborative approaches for efficient motion. We beneficial easy developments underneath every goal to advertise coverage alignment between surroundings and well being ministries. Taken collectively, these suggestions would go a great distance towards collectively addressing environmental degradation, well being promotion, and illness prevention, and creating constructive affect at regional and even international ranges for individuals and planet.

The key right here is coverage coordination. By organising checklists to make sure that businesses are contemplating the linkages between biodiversity and well being and facilitating cross-disciplinary communication, we elevate additional consciousness of each the challenges we face and the alternatives to enhance.

– Jeff Sobotko