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With Rachel Carson's alarm bell Silent Spring, 30 years old and the
World Commission on Environment and Development's concept of 'sustainable
development' nearly 15 years old, many overt point sources of chemical pollution
are under control and mean global life expectancy has risen dramatically.
But ecological crises are far from over. Instead they are deepening, becoming
more global in nature, and more intractable as human population and impact
on the biosphere continue to grow at alarming rates. The
Worldwatch Institute and the United Nations Development Programme, the
United Nations Environment Programme, the World Bank and the World
Resources Institute all agree that the overall condition of the world's
ecosystems is in dangerous decline because of increasing human demands and
impacts. Declining ecosystem capacity translates in the short and the long
term into declining human health and well-being. The World Health Organization
indicates that 25% of all preventable ill-health in the world can be directly
attributed to poor environmental quality. Only dramatic, concerted, coordinated
human action can hope to avert or slow the downward spiral of irreversible
damage to ecosystems, declining carrying capacity of the earth, and loss
of options for supporting and improving human quality of life. Although
in many areas we have recognized the importance of ecosystem health and
the preservation of our resources for sustainable development and for human
health, in general, policy makers and politicians still do not integrate
these realities into legislation and policies. We are locked into a value
system that places short-term gain over sustainability, and denies responsibility
for future generations.
Working groups for the theme "Ecosystem Health and Human Health" will
focus on the following questions:
- What are the linkages between human health/disease and ecosystem health?
- What are technological, social, political, and economic sources of
solutions to the problems?
- What are the priority actions that should be taken to protect, preserve
or restore the health of ecosystems and growing human population?
- What are the barriers to effective action?
- What are useful measures, indicators, or metrics of progress?
Working group sessions will address these questions through the following
topics:
Session 1. Climate change
Session 2. Agrosystems and food production
Session 3. Declining productive capacity and biodiversity
Session 4. Integration of previous sessions, conclusions, and development
of recommendation
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