Human Health And Ecological Integrity

The connection between environment and health has been well studied and documented, particularly by the World Health Organization. This volume makes the connection explicit in a broad review of human rights and legal issues. The book integrates perspectives from a wide range of disciplines.

Global Integrity Project has brought together leading scientists and thinkers from around the world to examine the combined problems of threatened and unequal human well-being, degradation of the ecosphere, and unsustainable economies. Based on the proposition that healthy, functioning ecosystems are a necessary prerequisite for both economic security and social justice, the project is built around the concept of ecological integrity and its practical implications for policy and management.Ecological Integrity presents a synthesis and findings of the project. Contributors -- including Robert Goodland, James Karr, Orie Loucks, Jack Manno, William Rees, Mark Sagoff, Robert Ulanowicz, Philippe Crabbe, Laura Westra, David Pimentel, Reed Noss, and others -- examine the key elements of ecological integrity and consider what happens when integrity is lost or compromised. The book: examines historical and philosophical foundations of the concept of ecological integrity explores how integrity can be measured examines the relationships among ecological integrity, human health, and food production looks at economic and ethical issues that need to be considered in protecting ecological integrity offers concrete recommendations for reversing ecological degradation while promoting social and economic justice and welfare .Contributors argue that there is an urgent need for rapid and fundamental change in the ecologically destructive patterns of collective human behavior if society is to survive and thrive in coming decades.Ecological Integrity is a groundbreaking book that integrates environmental science, economics, law, and ethics in problem analysis, synthesis, and solution, and is a vital contribution for anyone concerned with interactions between human and planetary health.

The connection between environment and health has been well studied and documented, particularly by the World Health Organization. It is now being included in some legal instruments, although for the most part caselaw does not explicitly make that connection. Neither the right to life nor the rights to health or to normal development are actually cited in the resolution of cases and in judges' decisions. This volume makes the connection explicit in a broad review of human rights and legal issues associated with public health and the environment. It will be particularly useful as many legal instruments emphasize the right to 'development' without fully discussing the necessary safety and public health aspects, and the respect for the ecology of any area where such 'development' (often unwanted by local or indigenous communities) is to be located. Climate change is another pressing variable that is considered, and several chapters address the interface between human health and ecological conditions. Overall the book integrates perspectives from a wide range of disciplines, including ethics, ecology, public health and epidemiology, and human rights and law.

Four studies from a June 2000 toxicology workshop in Snowbird, Utah, begin the effort to quantify the intuition that there is a strong connection between the well-being of natural ecosystems and human health. Social and natural scientists from academia, government, and industry participated. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.

This book contains some of the papers which were presented at the NATO Science, Environmental Security, Advanced Research Workshop on "Implementing Ecological Integrity: Restoring Regional and Global Environmental and Human Health" held in Budapest from June 26 to July 1, 1999. All papers presented are summarized in the Introduction and, in some cases, shorter versions are published. A mUltidisciplinary core of American and Western European participants had met over the preceeding years to discuss the concept of ecological integrity. The term "ecological integrity" is found in environmental policy documents but, generally, is not defined. It competes with other recent terms, or environmental narratives, such as "ecosystem health" and "sustainable development" and also with older ones such as "conservation". Therefore, it is deemed important not only to sort out the definitions of these concepts but also to find out whether their practical implications differ. Moreover, it was interesting to find out whether participants from Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC) and, more generally, from NATO partner countries would be, first, responsive to this concept and, second, would hold different views of it. This explains the broad, albeit not always consistent, range oftopics which are covered in this book. The core group learned that CEEC and other NATO partners participants were responsive to the concept but that they were less exclusive of human influence.

Radical changes in the biosphere and human interaction with the environment are increasingly impacting on the health of populations across the world. Diseases are crossing the species barrier, and spreading rapidly through globalised transport systems. From new patterns of cancer to the threat of global pandemics, it is imperative that public health practitioners acknowledge the interdependence between the sustainability of the environment and the sustainability of the human species * Why are issues of global and local sustainability of increasing impotance to the public's health? * Why do issues of sustainability require new practices within the professions of public health? * How can future and current public health practitioners develop those new practices? Drawing on scientific evidence of global and local environmental changes, Sustainability and Health offers a thorough background and practical solutions to the overlapping issues in environment and health. It examines potential and existing responses to global and local environment and health issues involving individuals, community, industry and government. The authors introduce a range of emerging conceptual frameworks and theoretical perspectives, link IT and epidemiology and explain how scoping can link program design, delivery, data collection and evaluation in projects from their very beginning. Public health practitioners need to be able to manage health issues that cut across environmental, economic and social systems and to develop the capacity for leadership in facilitating change. Incorporating learning activities, readings, international case studies and an open learning approach, this is a valuable resource for students of public and environmental health, as well as medical, environmental and health science professionals.

Proponents of the concept of ecological integrity argue that it is a necessary component of global governance on which the sustainable future of the planet and its inhabitants depends. This book presents the latest research and current thinking on the role of ecological integrity in support of life on Earth and the importance of governance for the common good, or the benefit of all. The book considers whether present forms of governance support the common good, or whether they are endangering its very foundations. It explores the connection between consumerism and capitalism, the destruction of natural resources and with it, the elimination of many of the ecosystem services that support life in general, and human life in particular. Chapters focus on the defence of human rights, and in particular the rights to key resources such as food, water and general health/wellbeing, as well as energy and security. Topics covered include climate change, biodiversity, migration and conflict resolution, with approaches from various perspectives such as politics, ethics, sociology and law. Overall the book provides a stimulating insight into the multifaceted debates surrounding ecological integrity, global governance and sustainability.