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Feature

More health problems to come our way
soon

Saturday, April 09,
2005
More health problems to
come our way soon
By
Henrylito D. Tacio

SOME 60
percent 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,
according the recently released Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
(MA).

More than 1,300 experts work on the report. They
believe that harmful consequences of this degradation to human
health are already being felt and could grow significantly worse
over the next 50 years.

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For
instance, the report warns that the erosion of ecosystems could lead
to an increase in existing diseases such as malaria and cholera, as
well as a rising risk of new diseases emerging. Worsening ecosystems
will also affect the world's ability to meet the UN Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs).

"Ecosystems are the planet's
life-support system. They are fundamental to human health and
indispensable to the well-being of all people everywhere in the
world," said Dr Kerstin Leitner, World Health Organization (WHO)
Assistant Director-General for Sustainable Development and Healthy
Environments.

"The work of the Millennium Ecosystem
Assessment makes clear how ecosystems and human health are
inter-twined--and further highlights how important it is that
decisions related to economic development also protect the
environment, in order to ultimately safeguard human health," added
Dr. Leitner, who is also a member of the MA Board.

The links
between environmental change and human health are complex because
they are often indirect, displaced in space and time, and dependent
on a number of modifying forces.

There are two ways of
avoiding disease and injury caused by ecosystem disruption. One is
to prevent, limit or manage environmental damage; the other way is
to find ways to protect individuals and populations from the
consequences of ecosystem change.

Take the case of water. It
has been reported that water pollution, poor sanitation and water
shortages kill over 12 million people every year.

Seventy-five percent of water is used for agriculture. Crop
failure due to lack of water, or too much water, can mean starvation
for many.

The MA report contends that intact and healthy
ecosystems are often worth more than altered, damaged and degraded
ones. Wetlands are important habitats for fish, birds and plants.

They are also natural water pollution filters and water
storage facilities. They also have high recreational value.

An intact wetland, in this case in Canada, is worth US$6,000
a hectare whereas one that has been cleared for intensive
agriculture is worth only around US$2,000 a hectare.

The
same argument is made for intact mangroves versus the same area
cleared for shrimp farming--US$1,000 a hectare in Thailand versus
about US$200 a hectare when cleared for aquaculture.

The
recreational value of ecosystem services by citing the case of
Marine Management Areas in Hawaii. It claims that among six of these
areas the recreational value ranges from US$300,000 to US$35
million.

The report also looks at the costs of damaging and
degrading ecosystems. It cites the collapse in the early 1990s of
the Newfoundland cod fishery due to over-fishing.

This put
tens of thousands of people out of work and cost US$2 billion in
income support and retraining.

The burning of 10 million
hectares of Indonesia's forests in the late 1990s, cost an estimated
$9 billion in increased health care, lost production and lost
tourism revenues.

The report says the costs of restoring
ecosystems can be high, indicating that it is cheaper to conserve
them rather than pollute and clean up afterwards.

For
example, the State of Louisiana in the United States has put in
place a US$14 billion wetland restoration plan to protect 10,000
square kilometers of marsh, swamp and barrier islands in part to
reduce storm surges generated by hurricanes.

The report also
argues that human security is also at risk from ecosystem decline.
It argues that the severity and frequency of floods and fires has
been aggravated by damage to the Earth's natural capital.

"Changing landscapes--such as the clearing of forests for
human settlement, agriculture, and timber--have contributed to the
severity of flash floods and landslides in the Philippines," reports
Kathleen Mogelgaard of the Washington-based Population Reference
Bureau.

"Such natural disasters have claimed the lives of
thousands of Filipinos," she added. A case in point is the
well-known 1991 flash flood in Ormoc City in Leyte in which at least
6,000 people died.

"One of the striking and over-arching
conclusions of this assessment lies in the fundamental need to
ensure ecological sustainability to safeguard ecosystems and
therefore protect human health in the long-term," pointed out Dr.
Carlos Corvalan, a WHO scientist who contributed to the MA report.

"Where ill-health is caused by excessive consumption of what
the ecosystem provides such as water, food and energy, substantial
reduction in consumption-- and right of access to essential
resources to marginalized communities--would have major health
benefits," Dr. Corvalan said.

"For every action," said Dr.
John Eyles, an expert in environmental health policy, "there is a
consequent reaction--perhaps unintended, but not unpredictable."

To which Mahatma Monhandas Gandhi may add: "There is
sufficiency for man's need, but not for man's greed."

For
comments, write me at [email-masked]

(April 9, 2005 issue)
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