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Significance of Biodiversity to Health
Author(s) -
Herndon Christopher N.,
Butler Rhett A.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
biotropica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.813
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1744-7429
pISSN - 0006-3606
DOI - 10.1111/j.1744-7429.2010.00672.x
Subject(s) - biodiversity , biosphere , environmental ethics , human health , global health , natural (archaeology) , geography , political science , development economics , ecology , biology , law , environmental health , economics , health care , medicine , philosophy , archaeology
The United Nations declared 2010 the International Year of Biodiversity. Despite the magnitude of the global crisis of biodiversity loss, its far‐reaching consequences to human health remain largely unappreciated. The legacy of the natural world to medicine is profound and its potential to yield new therapeutics and advancements in biomedical science undervalued. The enormity of the global crisis underscores a fundamental truth, one that is seemingly obvious but has been tragically overlooked: Our species does not exist in isolation from the biosphere. Rather, our fate depends on it.