Human health impacts of ecosystem alteration

Abstract

Human activity is rapidly transforming most of Earth's natural systems. How this transformation is impacting human health, whose health is at greatest risk, and the magnitude of the associated disease burden are relatively new subjects within the field of environmental health. We discuss what is known about the human health implications of changes in the structure and function of natural systems and propose that these changes are affecting human health in a variety of important ways. We identify several gaps and limitations in the research that has been done to date and propose a more systematic and comprehensive approach to applied research in this field. Such efforts could lead to a more robust understanding of the human health impacts of accelerating environmental change and inform decision making in the land-use planning, environmental conservation, and public health policy realms.

Keywords: ecological footprint; ecology; ecosystem services; global change; planetary boundaries.

Fig. 1.

Schematic of the complex relationships between altered environmental conditions and human health. Drivers of global environmental change (e.g., land-use change, resource scarcity, or climate change) can directly pose health risks or impair ecosystem services that subsequently influence health. Population level vulnerability, however, will be modified by multiple layers of social or infrastructure barriers that can buffer or eliminate risks associated with these exposures. Together, all components must be considered to achieve realistic assessments of population vulnerability.

Fig. 2.

Hypothetical ecological transition for a fictional population. In this schematic, the population moves from a state (a) in which people rely primarily on natural systems for health-related ecosystem services to a state (c) where they become reliant on engineered infrastructure and markets for these services while ecological systems get degraded over time. Over the course of this transition (b), there are numerous society-level mediating influences that are likely to change the differential vulnerabilities and health status of members of the population. These include equity of income distribution, type and strength of governance, philanthropic safety nets, characteristics of the natural environment etc. It is also likely that the health implications of such a transition will be different for different dimensions of health.