WHO: Ecosystem Imbalance Is Threat to Human Health

[MountainLaurel]

The World Health Organization (WHO) is publishing a report, Ecosystems and Human Well-being: Health Synthesis, which represents an attempt to describe the complex links between the preservation of healthy and biodiverse natural ecosystems and human health.

"Over the past 50 years, humans have changed natural ecosystems more rapidly and extensively than in any comparable period in human history," said Dr LEE Jong-wook, Director-General of the World Health Organization. "This transformation of the planet has contributed to substantial net gains in health, well-being and economic development. But not all regions and groups of people have benefited equally from this process."

Approximately 60% of the benefits that the global ecosystem provides to support life on Earth (such as fresh water, clean air and a relatively stable climate) are being degraded or used unsustainably. In the report, scientists warn that harmful consequences of this degradation to human health are already being felt and could grow significantly worse over the next 50 years.

"The benefits should be acknowledged," said Dr Carlos Corvalan, WHO's lead expert on the report. "But these benefits are not enjoyed equally. And the risks we face now from ecosystem degradation, particularly among poor populations directly dependent on natural ecosystems for many basic needs, has to be addressed."

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=34791&nfid=rssfeeds

[acmejack]

1. All we can do is to keep yelling

Someday people will wake up (hopefully).

[MountainLaurel]

2. For all the good it will do

There's a great quote that comes to mind on this topic. "Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught will we realize that we can't eat money." - Cree proverb

http://www.northernsun.com/n/s/1968.html