Our planet, our health, our future. Human health and the Rio conventions: biological diversity, climate change and desertification

Abstract

Health is our most basic human right and one of the most important indicators of sustainable
\ndevelopment. We rely on healthy ecosystems to support healthy communities and societies. Wellfunctioning
\necosystems provide goods and services essential for human health. These include
\nnutrition and food security, clean air and fresh water, medicines, cultural and spiritual values,
\nand contributions to local livelihoods and economic development. They can also help to limit
\ndisease and stabilize the climate. Health policies need to recognize these essential contributions.
\nThe three so-called Rio Conventions arising from the 1992 Earth Summit – the Convention on
\nBiological Diversity, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the
\nUnited Nations Convention to Combat Desertification – together aim to maintain well-functioning
\necosystems for the benefit of humanity.
\nThere is growing evidence of the impacts of global environmental changes on ecosystems and
\npeople, and a renewed consciousness among peoples and nations of the need to act quickly to
\nprotect the planet’s ecological and climatic systems. In the last two decades, the Rio Conventions
\nhave brought global attention to the impacts of anthropogenic change on the ecosystems of the
\nplanet. Increasingly unsustainable practices are placing pressure on natural resources to meet
\nthe demands of our economies and the needs of a rapidly growing global population, resulting
\nin soil, water and air pollution, increased emissions of greenhouse gases, deforestation and land
\nuse change, expanded urban areas, introduction of non-native species, and inadequately planned
\ndevelopment of water and land resources to meet food and energy needs. These changes are having
\nboth direct and indirect impacts on our climate, ecosystems and biological diversity. More
\nthan ever, the pursuit of public health, at all levels from local to global, now depends on careful
\nattention to the processes of global environmental change.
\nTraditional knowledge and scientific evidence both point to the inexorable role of global environmental
\nchanges in terms of their impact on human health and well-being. In many countries,
\nanthropogenic changes to agriculture-related ecosystems have resulted in great benefits for
\nhuman health and well-being, in particular through increased global food production and
\nimproved food security. These positive impacts, however, have not benefited everyone, and
\nunsustainable levels of use of ecosystems have resulted in irreparable loss and degradation, with
\nnegative consequences for health and well-being. These range from emerging infectious diseases
\nto malnutrition, and contribute to the rapid rise in noncommunicable diseases. Large-scale
\nhuman transformation of the environment has contributed to increased disease burdens associated
\nwith the expansion of ecological and climatic conditions favourable for disease vectors. For
\nall humans, the provision of adequate nutrition, clean water, and long-term food security depend
\ndirectly on functioning agro-ecosystems and indirectly on the regulating ecosystem services
\nof the biosphere; these ecosystem services can be eroded if overexploited and poorly managed.