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Sweating the small things

Matt Bonds was young and idealistic when, as a postdoc, he set out with economist Jeffrey Sachs, a rock star in the development world, in his quest to end poverty. But the Millennium Villages Project on which they worked—a package of interventions from seeds to schools to clinics designed to imp ...

Tackling common drivers of disease and biodiversity loss: a One Health approach

Human disease and biodiversity loss share common drivers, providing opportunities for cross-sectoral collaboration for co-benefits for health and biodiversity. For example, the overexploitation of wild fauna and flora places pressure on wild populations and threatens the health-supporting ecosys ...

The Covid-19 pandemic shows we must transform the global food system

It was bats. Or pangolins. To hear common narratives about the origins of Covid-19, there is a simple causal relationship between China’s consumption of wild animals and the coronavirus ravaging the globe.

The World Health Organization’s objective of scaling up the prevention, care, and surveillance of diabetes on World Health Day 2016 provides a timely opportunity to reflect upon the profound impacts of biodiversity loss and its consequences for human and planetary health.

The challenge to produce more food & energy with less pollution: Towards a Global Nitrogen Assessment.

Reactive nitrogen is needed to feed the world, but pollutes the world’s air, land and water, threatening biodiversity and contributing to climate change. With projected increases in human population and standard of living, this makes for a major global challenge to produce more food and energy, ...

The diet to save lives, the planet and feed us all?

A diet has been developed that promises to save lives, feed 10 billion people and all without causing catastrophic damage to the planet. Scientists have been trying to figure out how we are going to feed billions more people in the decades to come.

The diets cutting one in five lives short every year

The food we eat is putting 11 million of us into an early grave each year, an influential study shows. The analysis, in the Lancet, found that our daily diet is a bigger killer than smoking and is now involved in one in five deaths around the world.

The health impact of the global meat trade

The authors of a new study, which appears in BMJ Global Health, point out that producing red meat for export has environmental costs in terms of lost habitats and biodiversity and harms consumers’ health.

The human health benefits of conserving and restoring peatlands

It is well known that peatlands matter for livelihoods, carbon storage, flood mitigation, and water quality, but a recent study has shown that peatlands also matter for human health.

The impact of climate change on cardiovascular mortality

Two new University of Pennsylvania studies led by LDI Senior Fellow and Perelman School of Medicine cardiologist Sameed Khatana, MD, MPH are bringing a greater focus on the increasing health threat of extreme heat waves and the deadly connection between those weather events and cardiovascular mo ...

The more we lose biodiversity, the worse will be the spread of infectious diseases

Do biodiversity losses aggravate transmission of infectious diseases spread by animals to humans? The jury is still out but several scientists say there is a “biodiversity dilution effect” in which declining biodiversity results in increased infectious-disease transmission.

The new Lonyiri nature walks in Kidepo a great tourist attraction

From searching for insects, to birds, to different plant species with their unique names, animals, nature lovers in December braved the Lonyiri 25km nature walk in Kidepo valley national park and ventured out in the newly discovered nature walk, to indulge in nature.

The next pandemic: New diseases could spread undetected in some of world's most connected cities

New infectious diseases could spread undetected in up to 20 per cent of the world's most connected cities, which are “slap bang in the middle” of high risk spillover zones but lack the health infrastructure needed to contain dangerous new pathogens.

The path to global health equity is through neglected tropical diseases. Here's why

Leaders of the Commonwealth, a group of 54 countries that are home to a third of the world’s population, met in Kigali, Rwanda, between 20-25 June, with the aim of strengthening international cooperation on some of the most pressing challenges facing humanity.

The problems of dietary simplification

New Food’s Editor looks at the issue of dietary simplification and how a lack of biodiversity is impacting both health and food security.

The way we eat is killing us – and the planet

The distinguished medical journal The Lancet has issued not one but two apocalyptic warnings about our food in under a month. One of its special commissions reported earlier this month that civilisation itself was at risk from the effects of the current food system on both human health and the E ...

The world is failing to ensure children have a 'liveable planet', report finds

Every country in the world is failing to shield children’s health and their futures from intensifying ecological degradation, climate change and exploitative marketing practices, says a new report.

Third International Conference on Environment and Health

15 - 17 December 2003, Chennai, India

This World Health Day, the world is grappling with the worst public health emergency in recent memory.

The recent outbreak of COVID-19 has brought the link between zoonotic diseases - those transmitted from animals to humans - and wildlife trade into sharp focus. On World Health Day, WWF Calls For A Halt To The Illegal Wildlife Trade And Forest Crime

Though there have been rapid advances in human health, the continuing degradation of our planetary systems does not bode well for its future. Today, The Rockefeller Foundation–Lancet Commission on Planetary Health launched a comprehensive report entitled “Safeguarding human health in the Anthropocene epoch

To Prevent the Next COVID-19, Prioritise Biodiversity

From the most remote terrestrial wilderness to the most densely populated cities, humans are inexorably changing the planet. We have put 1 million species at risk of extinction, degraded soil and habitats, polluted the air and water, destroyed forests and coral reefs wholesale, exploited wild sp ...

To keep tabs on ecosystem health in Borneo, follow these birds: Study

To improve ecosystem management in Borneo, look at the population trends of key bird species on the island, researchers say.

Today on World Health Day, the world is focusing on the issue of depression, which has emerged as a major health problem, affecting over 300 million people every year.

Today on the occasion of World Health Day, it is important to note that human health ultimately depends upon the availability of clean air, fresh water, medicines, food, and fuel sources.

Today, a new report released by The Rockefeller Foundation-Lancet Commission on Planetary Health has underlined that human health rests on a healthy environment and rich biodiversity. The report ”Safeguarding Human Health in the Anthropocene Epoch”, shows us how the health and well-being of future generations is being jeopardised by the unprecedented degradation of the planet’s natural resources and ecological systems.

Top 5 Ways Biodiversity Loss Affects Humans

Human-driven nature and biodiversity loss is threatening life on our planet. Biodiversity loss affects humans more severely than you could imagine.

Tough lesson delivered on biodiversity

Pandemic must force reassessment on how we treat planet, experts say.The pandemic should serve as a wake-up call for humanity to reexamine our relationship with nature and, in doing so, drive home the importance of efforts to conserve biodiversity around the planet, experts said.

Tourist selfies risk passing deadly viruses onto critically endangered orangutans

COVID-19 not only affects humans; our closest relatives, the great apes, are also at risk. A team of experts, including Oxford Brookes University researchers say that jungle trekkers could be risking the lives of Critically Endangered species of orangutans, by passing on human viruses like COVID-19.

Tree therapy: what we can learn from the Japanese practice of shinrin-yoku

Chained to our desk, a computer monitor in front of our face, smartphone accompanying us wherever we go, the stresses of everyday urban life can sometimes seem insurmountable. With more than 7m years of human evolution, we have spent less than 0.1% of that time living in cities – and we have yet ...

Trees are good for human health in one strange,unexpected way

ON YOUR NEXT VISIT TO THE PARK, try and count all the different species you can see. Away from the closely mown grass, you might spot wildflowers attended by pollinating insects, like bees, wasps, and hoverflies. Overhead there are the gnarled branches of mature trees, some of which will have li ...

Tweeting appreciation: bird-watching groups take flight in lockdown

Grassroots bird-watching and gardening groups have seen an influx of new members during the pandemic, which has reignited a British love-affair for birds and their song.

UN report shows how we can safeguard the health of the planet

"Making peace with nature is the defining task of the coming decades," writes António Guterres, UN secretary general, in his introduction to a landmark UN Environment Programme (UNEP) report, "Making Peace With Nature," released February 18.

UNEP/CBD/COP/11/INF/27

Collaborative and Mainstreaming Activities With the Health Sector: Progress Report

UNEP/CBD/COP/12/16

Interlinkages Between Biodiversity and Human Health

UNEP/CBD/COP/13/INF/40

Collaborative and Mainstreaming Activities on Biodiversity and Human Health

UNEP/CBD/COP/8/INF/15

Biological Diversity of Inland Water Ecosystems: Linkages between the conservation and sustainable use of the biological diversity of inland water ecosystems and poverty alleviation/sustainable livelihoods, including human health considerations

UNEP/CBD/COP/8/INF/47

Report of the Meeting on the Impact of Avian Influenza on Wildlife

UNEP/CBD/COP/9/INF/46

Summary Report from the Second International Conference on Health And Biodiversity, Galway, Ireland, 25 to 28 February 2008

UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/10/13

Options for a cross-cutting initiative on biodiversity for food, nutrition and health

UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/18/17

Consideration of Issues in Progress: Health and Biodiversity

UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/18/INF/15

Emerging Key Messages for the State of Knowledge Review on the Interlinkages between Biodiversity and Human Health

UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/19/6

Biodiversity and Human Health

UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/19/6/ADD1

Executive Summary of the State of Knowledge Review: Connecting Global Priorities: Biodiversity And Human Health

UNEP/CBD/WS-HB-AFR/1/2

Report of the Regional Workshop on the Interlinkages between Human Health and Biodiversity for Africa

United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Substantive Session 2011

4 - 29 July 2011, Geneva, Switzerland

United Nations' World Health Day 2019

7 April 2019, Geneva, Switzerland

Urban biodiversity to lower chronic disease

Replanting urban environments with native flora could be a cost effective way to improve public health because it will help 'rewild' the environmental and human microbiota, University of Adelaide researchers say.

Urban wetlands ‘could improve wellbeing in deprived UK areas’

Creating wildlife-rich wetlands such as ponds, streams and rain gardens in deprived urban areas could help level up inequalities in wellbeing across the UK, according to a report.

Value of Animals in the Lives of Youth

8 - 9 April 2006, Tallahassee, United States of America

WHO Covid-19 report shows clear link between biodiversity loss and zoonotic disease – Greenpeace reaction

In its official report on SARS-CoV-2’s origins the World Health Organization (WHO) pointed to the potential disease risks of contact between wildlife and people, showing the life-threatening risk of natural ecosystem destruction, which is breaking down the buffer zone scientists say protects us ...