A brief overview of biodiversity and its relationship with human health.

1. BIODIVERSITY
AND HUMAN
HEALTH
Dr. Bharat Paul

2. CONTENTS
• Introduction
• World Scenario of biodiversity
• Indian Scenario
• Biodiversity and Health
• Conservation of Biodiversity
• Challenges
• Way forward
• References

3. INTRODUCTION

4. Introduction
• Biodiversity is the variety of all life forms: the
different plants, animals and micro-organisms,
their genes and the ecosystems of which they
are a part.
• Term Biological diversity - Raymond F.
Dasmann in 1968.
• Biodiversity - W.G. Rosen in 1985

5. Introduction
• Biodiversity underpins life on Earth, and refers to the
variety found in biota from genetic make up of plants
and animals to cultural diversity. (WHO)
• Biological diversity (biodiversity) is “the variability
among living organisms from all sources including,
inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic
ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they
are part; this includes diversity within species, between
species and of ecosystems.(CBD)
• CBD – Convention on Biological Diversity

6. Types of Biodiversity
3 types of biodiversity-
• Genetic diversity - Each member of any
animal or plant species differs widely from
other individuals in its genetic makeup
• Species diversity - The number of species of
plants and animals that are present in a region
constitutes its species diversity

7. Types of Biodiversity
• Ecosystem diversity –
Large variety of different ecosystems on earth,
which have their own complement of
distinctive inter linked species based on the
differences in the habitat. E.g. forest , desert
,etc

8. Introduction
• Human health ultimately depends upon
ecosystem products and services (such as
availability of fresh water, food and fuel
sources) which are requisite for good human
health and productive livelihoods.
• There is growing concern about the health
consequences of biodiversity loss and change.

9. Introduction
• Direct drivers of biodiversity loss include land-
use change, habitat loss, overexploitation,
pollution and climate change.
• Many of these drivers affect human health
directly and through their impacts on
biodiversity.

10. WORLD SCENARIO

11. World Scenario
• Approximately 1.9 million species have been
identified.
• Many scientists have estimated the total
number of species on Earth to be around 15
million.
• The rate of extinction has been estimated at
one species per million species each year, so
that for 15 million species, 15 extinctions
would occur each year.

12. World Scenario
• Human activity has accelerated this natural
extinction rate many fold, so that for some groups
of organisms the rate is 100 times baseline levels,
and for others, it is 1000 times and even more.
• Scientists say we have now entered “the sixth
great extinction event,” the fifth having occurred
sixty-five million years ago, when dinosaurs and
many other organisms went extinct.

13. World Scenario
• According to IUCN, the World Conservation
Union, the monetary value of goods and
services provided by ecosystems is estimated
to amount to US$33 trillion per year.
• About 100 million metric tonnes of aquatic
life, including fish, molluscs and crustaceans
are taken from the wild every year.
IUCN – International Union for Conservation of Nature and natural resources

14. HOTSPOTS
• Two criteria-
– It must have at least 1,500 vascular plants as
endemics — which is to say, it must have a high
percentage of plant life found nowhere else on the
planet. A hotspot, in other words, is irreplaceable.
– It must have 30% or less of its original natural
vegetation. In other words, it must be threatened.

15. INDIAN SCENARIO

16. Indian Scenario
• India is one of the 17 mega-biodiversity
countries with 2.4 per cent of the global land
area and 4 per cent of water.
• It accounts for 7 to 8 per cent of the recorded
species of the world.
• 45,968 species of plants and 91,364 species of
animals have been documented.

17. Indian Scenario
Class India’s world
ranking
No. of species in
India
Mammals 8th 350
Birds 8th 1200
Reptiles 5th 453
Amphibians 15 182
INDIA AS A MEGADIVERSITY NATION

18. Indian Scenario
• “Biodiversity Heritage Sites” are well defined
areas that are unique, ecologically fragile
ecosystems - terrestrial, coastal and inland
waters and, marine having rich biodiversity.
– Darjeeling forest division.
– Nallur tamarind grove in Bengaluru.
• Hotspots in India are western ghats and the
northeast.

19. BIODIVERSITY AND HEALTH

20. Determinants of health
and biodiversity
• The social, economic and behavioral aspects of
the human condition interact with the
environment, including critical elements of
biodiversity and ecosystem services.
• Biodiversity and its changes (losses and gains)
are, to a great extent, the result of
anthropogenic influences.

21. Determinants of health
and biodiversity
• Environmental determinants of health (such as
air quality, food security, water security,etc.)
are interrelated and adversely affected by the
reduced ability of degraded ecosystems and
biota to adapt to the impacts of climate change,
air pollution, natural disasters or water
scarcity.

22. Determinants of health
and biodiversity
• Different socioeconomic groups will have
different experiences of material conditions,
psychosocial support and behavioral options,
which make them more or less vulnerable to
poor health.
• Detrimental changes to biodiversity and the
resulting risks and burden of human health
problems are inequitably distributed in specific
social–ecological settings.

23. Determinants of health
and biodiversity
• Developing countries are more reliant on
biodiversity and ecosystem services than
developed ones, and their health systems are
usually less prepared to protect the health of
their populations, which leads to greater
negative health impacts of biodiversity change.
• E.g. Over 1 billion people, mainly in
developing countries, rely on fisheries as their
primary source of animal protein.

24. Freshwater , biodiversity and
human health
• The immense demand for water posed by
modern industry, agriculture, forestry, mining,
energy generation and human consumption
combine to exacerbate pressures on water
quality and quantity.
• Impaired water quality results in significant
social and economic costs, and ecosystem
degradation is a major cause of decline in
water quality.

25. Freshwater , biodiversity and
human health
• The input of nutrients most commonly
associated with eutrophication – phosphorus
(e.g. in detergents) and nitrogen (e.g.
agricultural runoff) into lakes, reservoirs,
rivers and coastal marine ecosystems,
including coral reefs, have been widely
recognized as a major threat to both water
ecosystems and human health.

26. Bioaccumulation : the impact
of mining
• Many mining activities discharge mercury
(Hg) and methyl Hg in aquatic ecosystems,
thereby contaminating water.
• It can reach human populations through fish
consumption.
• Methyl Hg is neurotoxic and prenatal exposure
can affect brain development, even at low
doses of exposure.

27. Freshwater , biodiversity and
human health
• Water pollution from fertilizers, pesticides and
herbicides remains a serious problem.
• Unsafe water can lead to a number of
waterborne diseases.

28. Biodiversity ,air quality and
human health
• Air pollution is a significant problem in cities
across the world.
• Health effects related to air pollution include
its impact on the pulmonary and
cardiovascular systems.
• Trees affect air quality through a number of
means and can be used to improve air quality.

29. Biodiversity ,air quality and
human health
• Bioindicators can be useful for monitoring air
quality and indicating environmental health.
• Bioindicators, especially lichens and
bryophytes, are widely used for monitoring air
quality.

30. Food security
• The world’s population has increased from
roughly 2.5 billion people in 1950 to more
than 7 billion today and is anticipated to
exceed 9 billion by 2050.
• An adequate supply of safe and nutritious food
is one of the cornerstones of human health.

31. Food security
• The increase in food production achieved over
the past decades has been accompanied by
significant losses in agricultural biodiversity.
• The Declaration of the World Summit on Food
Security (FAO 2009) addresses the issue of
investments in agriculture highlighting that
efforts should focus more on sustainability.

32. Nutritional impact
• Healthy local diets, with adequate average
levels of nutrients intake, necessitates
maintenance of high biodiversity levels.
• Nutritional composition between foods and
among varieties of the same food can differ
dramatically, affecting micronutrient
availability in the diet.

33. Nutritional impact
• Globalization, poverty, modern agricultural
practices and changes in dietary patterns have
led to a “nutrition transition”.
• The nutrition transition is the process by
which development, globalization, poverty
and subsequent changes in lifestyle have led to
excessive dietary energy intakes, poor-quality
diets and low physical activity.

34. Nutritional impact
• Increased use of fertilizers and pesticides has a
hazardous effect on human health.
• It also leads to loss of biodiversity. Adversely
effects plant and animal species .
• Sustainable Diets are those diets with low
environmental impacts, which contribute to
food and nutrition security and to a healthy life
for present and future generations.

35. Infectious diseases
• Human-caused global changes, such as
deforestation, extractive industries including
logging and mining and urban development,
are driving infectious disease emergence and
spread.
• The relationships between biodiversity loss,
disturbance and disease will have enormous
consequences for human well-being.
E.g. Deforestation has led to a proliferation of
Anopheles darlingi, a mosquito species that is highly
effective at transmitting malaria. It has replaced some
twenty other less effective Anopheles species that were
present before the forests were cut down.

36. Infectious diseases
• For instance, hantavirus prevalence is thought
to increase when mammal diversity decreases.
• Prevalence of Bartonella increases when large
wildlife are removed; and habitat
fragmentation increases risk of Lyme disease.
• Changes in biodiversity increase the risk of
cross-species transmission of pathogens, which
can result in zoonotic disease.

37. Non communicable
diseases
• Large increases in the incidences of chronic
inflammatory disorders such as allergies,
autoimmune diseases and inflammatory bowel
diseases.
• Hygiene hypothesis being replaced by
Biodiversity hypothesis (von Hertzen et al.) or
the Old Friends mechanism (Rook et al.)

38. Non communicable
diseases
• Changing patterns of microbial exposure, in
concert with changing diets, are contributing to
diminished immunoregulation, and to
increased incidences of immunoregulatory
disorders.
• The Old infections are rapidly and
progressively eliminated by modern medicine
and lifestyles.
• The biodiversity of the microbiotas is
restricted by the modern lifestyle.

39. Non communicable
diseases
• Reduced gut microbial biodiversity is often
found to associate with poor control of
inflammation.
• Gut microbiota of limited diversity is also
characteristic of human inflammation-
associated conditions such as inflammatory
bowel disease.

40. Health research and
traditional Medicine
• Traditional medicines are estimated to be used by
60% of the world’s population and in some
countries are extensively incorporated into the
public health system.
• Medicinal plants are supplied through collection
from wild populations and cultivation.

41. Health research and
traditional Medicine
• The global need and demand for natural
products persists for use as medicinal products.
• Biomedical research relies on plants, animals
and microbes to understand human physiology
and to understand and treat human diseases.

42. Mental Health
• Contact with nature may not only be
associated with positive mental health benefits,
but can also promote physical activity and
contribute to overall well-being.
• Contribution of biodiversity to the provision
and sustenance of a range of cultural
ecosystem services such as spiritual values and
social relations.

43. Mental Health
• Little is known about the types of
environments that can best support physical
activity in the population or what types of
environment alleviate – or aggravate –
psychotic symptoms.
• Green spaces in urban settings are linked to
stress reduction, reduction in crime and
violence and a range of other health benefits.

44. Climate change
• Climate change and biodiversity loss are
interconnected.
• Direct impact - Increase in the number of heat
waves, droughts, foods, cyclones and
wildfires.
• Indirect impact -broad and variable in their
etiology, such as change in infectious disease
vector distribution and air pollution interacting
with heat waves.

45. Climate change
• Tertiary effects - health impacts of large-scale
famine, forced migration and human conflict,
which result from the geophysical and
ecological consequences of climate change.
• Climate change alone is anticipated to threaten
with extinction approximately one quarter or
more of all species on land by the year 2050.

46. Disaster risk reduction
• Urban expansion and infrastructure
development, increasing population pressures,
unsustainable agricultural intensification and
climate change, can be significant drivers of
biodiversity loss and ill-health.
• Biodiversity – particularly its role in
underpinning ecosystem services – can play a
crucial role in disaster risk management.

47. CONSERVATION OF
BIODIVERSITY

48. Why conserve
biodiversity?
• Consumptive use value
• Productive use value
• Social value
• Moral and ethical value
• Aesthetic value
• Option value

49. Types of conservation
• In situ conservation - Biodiversity can be best
preserved in situ by setting aside an adequate
representation of wilderness as ‘Protected
Areas’. These should consist of a network of
National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries.
• Ex situ conservation - outside its natural
habitat in a carefully controlled situation such
as a botanical garden for plants or a zoological
park for animals.

50. Conservation of
biodiversity
• 1972 – UNEP(United Nations Environment
Program) started.
• 1992 –
–United Nations Conference on Environment
and Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
–Convention on climate change and
Convention on Biological Diversity started.

51. Convention on
Biological Diversity
3 main goals -
• The conservation of biodiversity,
• Sustainable use of the components of
biodiversity,
• Sharing the benefits arising from the
commercial and other utilization of genetic
resources in a fair and equitable way.

52. The Cartagena
Protocol
• The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the
Convention on Biological Diversity.
• International treaty governing the movements of
living modified organisms (LMOs) resulting from
modern biotechnology from one country to
another.
• Adopted on 29 January 2000 as a supplementary
agreement to the Convention on Biological
Diversity and entered into force on 11 September
2003.

53. The Nagoya
Protocol
• The Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-
sharing.
• International agreement which aims at sharing
the benefits arising from the utilization of
genetic resources in a fair and equitable way.
• Entered into force on 12 October 2014.

54. Strategic Plan for Biodiversity
2011-2020
• Revised and updated Strategic Plan for
Biodiversity, including the Aichi Biodiversity
Targets, for the 2011-2020 period.
• Started on 29 October 2010.
•At least halve and, where feasible, bring close to zero the rate of loss
of natural habitats, including forests.
•Establish a conservation target of 17% of terrestrial and inland water
areas and 10% of marine and coastal areas.
•Restore at least 15% of degraded areas through conservation and
restoration activities.
•Make special efforts to reduce the pressures faced by coral reefs.

55. Indian Scenario
• National Biodiversity Authority established in
2003 to implement India’s Biological Diversity
Act (2002).
• Performs facilitative, regulatory and advisory
function for Government of India on issue of
Conservation, sustainable use of biological
resource and fair equitable sharing of benefits.

56. Indian Scenario
• The Biological diversity Act (2002) mandates
implementation of the act through
decentralized system.
• NBA advices the Central Government on
matters relating to biodiversity.
• It also advices the State Government in the
selection of areas of biodiversity importance to
be notified as heritage sites and measures for
the management of such heritage sites.

57. Indian Scenario
• The state Biodiversity Board (SBBs) advices the
State Government.
• The NBA with its Headquarters in Chennai, India
delivers its mandate through a structure that
comprises of the Authority, secretariat, SBBs,
BMCs and Expert Committees.
• NBA has supported creation of SBBs in 26 States,
facilitated establishment of around 32,131
BMCs(Biodiversity Management Committees).

58. Indian Scenario
• India is also a signatory to World Heritage
Convention. Has included several protected
Areas as World Heritage sites (e.g. Sunderbans
, Nandadevi)
• India has also signed the Convention in the
Trade of Endangered Species (CITES).

59. Challenges
• As global population rises towards nine billion in
2050, trade-offs between human well-being and
competing uses of resources and physical space
for food supply and energy production will make
it more difficult to maintain functioning levels of
biodiversity.
• Much of future global population growth will
occur in areas where human health is at greatest
risk because of poverty and natural resource
scarcity.

60. Challenges
• Climate change adds uncertainty. It becomes
more difficult to predict which biotic resources
and ecosystem functions may be needed for
human adaptation to projected food supply
disruptions and ecosystem alterations.
• Conflicts can arise between short-term benefits
versus long term costs.

61. Challenges
• While there are multiple benefits of
biodiversity, biodiversity can also pose a risk
to human health and quality of life. For
example, in the case of HIV and SARS, there
is evidence pointing to the shift of these
diseases from animal populations to humans
being sparked by increased hunting and
consumption of bush meat.

62. WAY FORWARD

63. Way Forward
• The EcoHealth, One Health and “one
medicine” approaches are part of a family of
approaches that aim to bridge human health
and the health of other species or ecosystems.
• Full economic evaluation of human
management of resources, energy strategies
and potential developmental pathways should
be based on sound planning and development
policies.

64. Way Forward
• Responses that mitigate the impacts of
ecosystem changes on human health often
involve policies and actions outside the health
sector.
• Quantifying impacts of biodiversity loss on
quality of life requires careful assessment
where outcomes from interventions that
change biodiversity cannot be readily
anticipated.

65. Way Forward
• Management of biodiversity to benefit human
health and well being require specific policies
at appropriate levels (e.g. regional, national,
sub-national) that address health needs and
criteria for good quality of life of the particular
cultures that are affected.

66. References
• Connecting Global Priorities: Biodiversity and Human
Health – A state of knowledge review
• How Our Health Depends on Biodiversity – Harvard
University centre for health and global environment.
• WHO – What is biodiversity?
• National Biodiversity authority of India – nbaindia.org
• Convention on biological diversity – www.cbd.int
• Science - policy challenges for biodiversity, public health
and urbanization.
• Ecosystems and human well being – Millennium ecosystem
assessment board.
• UGC – ugc.ac.in - Biodiversity