Abstract
Biodiversity and healthy natural ecosystems, including protected areas in and around cities, provide ecosystem benefits and services that support human health, including reducing flood risk, filtering air pollutants, and providing a reliable supply of clean drinking water. These services help to reduce the incidence of infectious diseases and respiratory disorders, and assist with adaptation to climate change. Access to nature offers many other direct health benefits, including opportunities for physical activity, reduction of developmental disorders and improved mental health. Economic valuations of green spaces in several cities globally have found that nature provides billions of dollars in cost savings for health services. Protected areas are increasingly common in, and around, cities to protect biodiversity and ecosystem services, including these benefits for health. Many cities are also launching programmes to enhance the health and environmental benefits of parks, based on a model of Healthy Parks, Healthy People, by Parks Victoria in Australia. Partnerships between conservationists, city planners and health authorities are critical to maximise these benefits. In some places, medical professionals prescribe time in nature, and some cities specify standards for urban green spaces to enhance their health benefits. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals provide an important global framework for such partnerships from global to local level.
Highlights
Biodiversity and healthy natural ecosystems underpin and sustain human livelihoods and well-being by providing essential services such as food, clean air and water, and protection against floods, coastal storms and other natural disasters (Dudley et al 2010)
Food security and biodiversity loss will be some of the greatest global challenges over the few decades; all will be exacerbated by climate change and have consequences for human health and well-being
We argue that effective protection, management and restoration of protected areas and other natural ecosystems can be practical, cost-effective and help to meet the interlinked goals for biodiversity, health and climate change adaptation in a rapidly-urbanising world
Summary
Biodiversity and healthy natural ecosystems underpin and sustain human livelihoods and well-being by providing essential services such as food, clean air and water, and protection against floods, coastal storms and other natural disasters (Dudley et al 2010). These functions will become ever more important in helping people to cope with, and adapt to, climate change and its impacts. There is increasing evidence that biodiversity and healthy natural ecosystems, including protected areas, can help climate change adaptation by serving as a natural buffer against climate-related disasters, contributing to water and food security, and playing a critical role in maintaining human health and well-being (Dudley et al 2010; IUCN 2016a, b; Gómez-Baggethun et al 2013). Identifying and understanding the synergies between nature, health, urban development and national climate change policies and programmes will be critical for delivering many of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially those relating to water, health and sustainable cities
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