Side Event

Demonstrating the role of biodiversity and ecosystems in delivering good health at low cost

Organizer
United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability

Date and Time
16 October 2014 18:15 - 19:45

Meeting
Twelfth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity

Of the several services that biodiversity provides, a cross-cutting one is the contribution to secure the health of people and life forms in all manifestations – physical, mental and spiritual. While the relevance of biodiversity and related traditional knowledge to mainstream health may be more obvious given the more commercial nature of the products, their relevance to deliver health and nutritional security to people in insufficiently connected and marginalized regions of the world can be considered to be much more profound. Calling attention to leverage on the rich natural diversity of resources and knowledge and practices available to achieve goals of good health and wellbeing among local communities, the Biodiversity and Community Health (BaCH) Initiative was launched in 2012 during CoP-11. This side event will focus on different dimensions related to the interplay between biodiversity and community health – including challenges, strengths and opportunities through case studies. It will also highlight the progress made within the initiative to foster greater interactions among relevant stakeholders and partners to synergize efforts at achieving conservation and development objectives.