{"id":476117,"date":"2010-03-26T09:46:25","date_gmt":"2010-03-26T13:46:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.earthportal.org\/news\/?p=3233"},"modified":"2010-03-26T09:46:25","modified_gmt":"2010-03-26T13:46:25","slug":"human-health-linked-directly-to-forest-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/476117","title":{"rendered":"Human health linked directly to forest health"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.panda.org\/wwf_news\/news\/?uNewsID=191323\">World Wildlife Fund News:<\/a> Environmental degradation is causing serious detrimental health impacts  for humans, but protecting natural habitats can reverse this and supply  positive health benefits, according to a new WWF report.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.panda.org\/wwf_news\/news\/?uNewsID=191323\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/assets.panda.org\/img\/water_tap_kenya_267759.jpg\" align=\"left\" width=\"117\" height=\"62\" \/><\/a>\u201cOur research confirms what we know instinctively: Human health is  inextricably linked to the health of the planet,\u201d says Chris Elliot,  WWF\u2019s Executive Director of Conservation.<\/p>\n<p>Vital Sites: The Contribution of Protected Areas to Human Health notes  that the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates between 23 and 25 per  cent of the global disease burden could be avoided by improved  management of environmental conditions.<\/p>\n<p>The report, released in advance of World Forestry Day on March 21,  singles out deforestation for its key impacts on human health.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDeforestation is a double blow to human health,\u201d says Elliot. \u201cIt  increases the spread of certain diseases while destroying plants and  animals that may hold the key to treating illnesses that plague millions  of people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Protecting natural landscapes can contribute positively to human health  through protecting future medicinal resources, reducing the impacts of  pollution, toxins and weather extremes and providing recreational places  that support physical and mental well-being.<\/p>\n<p>World Forestry Day takes on special significance this year, as 2010 is  the International Year of Biodiversity. \u201cVital Sites\u201d makes a strong  case for protecting biodiversity.<\/p>\n<p>In the forests of Borneo alone in the past decade WWF reports  discoveries of trees and shrubs that may be used to treat cancer, HIV  and malaria. In all, 422 new plant species have been discovered in  Borneo in the last 25 years, but deforestation puts them and others  waiting to be discovered at risk.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen WWF stresses the importance of biodiversity, it\u2019s not just because  we enjoy a variety of trees or frogs in a forest. It\u2019s because the  science tells us that those trees and frogs are vital to the forest\u2019s  health, and the forest\u2019s health is vital to our health,\u201d says Elliot.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.panda.org\/wwf_news\/news\/?uNewsID=191323\" >Read more&gt;&gt; <\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"akst_link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.earthportal.org\/news\/?p=3233&amp;akst_action=share-this\"  title=\"E-mail this, post to del.icio.us, etc.\" id=\"akst_link_3233\" class=\"akst_share_link\" rel=\"nofollow\">Share This<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>World Wildlife Fund News: Environmental degradation is causing serious detrimental health impacts for humans, but protecting natural habitats can reverse this and supply positive health benefits, according to a new WWF report. \u201cOur research confirms what we know instinctively: Human health is inextricably linked to the health of the planet,\u201d says Chris Elliot, WWF\u2019s Executive [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-476117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=476117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476117\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}