We depend on biodiversity and healthy ecosystems for our health and survival. Biodiversity, and the complexity of our landscapes and seascapes, is integral to social and ecological resilience, including the resilience of ecosystem functions and the services that they sustain. As genetic and species diversity is lost and ecosystems are degraded, the complexity of the overall system can be compromised making it more vulnerable, and potentially creating new opportunities for disease emergence and poor health outcomes both in humans and species. This webinar will explore the risks humans are posing to our Pacific ecosystems and species and what that could mean for our own health and wellbeing.

The programme begins with the scientific evidence for the emergence of pandemic-causing diseases as a result of our mismanagement of the natural world. It will explain the link between biodiversity loss and degradation as contributing factors. We then move to an examination of the ongoing drivers to biodiversity loss in the Pacific as well as a discussion on what strategies we might adopt in the Pacific to combat these. Finally we examine a new concept known as ‘One Health’, a strategy for pooling our knowledge and data collection across multiple sectors managing health and the environment to ensure a joined up approach to better environmental management leading to better health outcomes and reduced risk of disease.

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