Biodiversity and Health Workshop

“During “Rio+20” (the 20th anniversary of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development) the Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) announce the release of “Our Planet, Our Health, Our Future,” documenting linkages between the global environment, ecosystems and human health – and led by GHI director, Jonathan Patz.  Now, just two months since Rio +20, the Pan American Health Organization/WHO and the secretariat of the United Nations Convention on Biodiversity are holding the first regional meeting on Biodiversity and Health in Manaus, Brazil.  The workshop convenes experts from across ministries of health and environment to foster collaboration and cross sector recognizing the interdependence between functioning ecosystems and healthy human populations.  GHI Director Patz co-led the concept paper steering this important workshop, participated in the workshop, and is actively engaged in moving the agenda forward for  the XI Conference of the Parties (COP) to the Convention on Biological Diversity next month in Hyderbad, India, as well as for the fourth Biennial Conference of the International Association for Ecology and Health (EcoHealth 2012) next month in Kunming, China.”