Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that sustainable actions to preserve biodiversity are critical to preventing new microorganisms from harming human health. In this sense, education and encouraging young people’s interest in local biodiversity are crucial to promoting its preservation and sustainability. This research studied the biodiversity interests of 14–15-year-old students in São Paulo State, focusing on the links between biodiversity and human health. The criterion of maximum variation was used to constitute a heterogeneous sample of students. Students answered a four-point Likert questionnaire. The items in this questionnaire were divided into categories related to the interest of young people in biodiversity, and these were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics (Wilcoxon test). Categories of biodiversity linked to “health or human utility” were of higher interest to young people than those with no links to human benefits, such as “diversity of organisms”. These findings, along with the literature, showed that young people are interested in biodiversity issues associated with human health. Therefore, teaching biodiversity should reflect on new possibilities for making a more sustainable environment and promoting social and environmental justice, fundamental aspects of promoting and guaranteeing human health.
Highlights
The COVID-19 pandemic has raised broad discussions on the different dimensions involved in promoting and guaranteeing human health, including the importance of biodiversity
This study showed that the participating students from the state of São Paulo are more interested in biodiversity themes when connected to health than when it is discussed without any contextualization
Education proposals involving the teaching of biodiversity linked to health and sustainability issues may greatly interest young people, considering the importance of preserving biodiversity to avoid new pandemics
Summary
The COVID-19 pandemic has raised broad discussions on the different dimensions involved in promoting and guaranteeing human health, including the importance of biodiversity. The zoonotic virus SARS-CoV-2 was transmitted from a mammal to humans [1], an extreme example of the connection of the environment with human health Most infectious diseases, such as HIV, MERS, SARS, H2N, measles, smallpox, diphtheria and Ebola, are caused by zoonotic viruses, potentially transmitted to humans by other vector animals, domestic, wild, or in captivity [2,3]. In Brazil, the first case of COVID-19 confirmed by the Ministry of Health was in February 2020, and by August 2021, the country recorded more than twenty million cases and almost 600,000 deaths [4] Of this large amount, São Paulo State (the focus of this research) had the highest number of cases (over 4 million) and deaths (over 145,000) [4]. In the São Paulo city, the analysis of the disease incidence and mortality is higher in the Black and Brown populations living in the poorest districts
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