Nutrition and biodiversity are linked at many levels: the ecosystem, with food production as an ecosystem service; the species in the ecosystem and the genetic diversity within species..
Humans depend upon biodiversity for survival, such as for the foods we eat, medicines we use to stay healthy, and materials we wear or use to build our homes.
These services are the tangible products or items that we and other species con sume for survival..
Biodiversity is essential for the processes that support all life on Earth, including humans.
Without a wide range of animals, plants and microorganisms, we cannot have the healthy ecosystems that we rely on to provide us with the air we breathe and the food we eat.
And people also value nature of itself..
Biodiversity supports human and societal needs, including food and nutrition security, energy, development of medicines and pharmaceuticals and freshwater, which together underpin good health..
Biodiversity is essential for the processes that support all life on Earth, including humans.
Without a wide range of animals, plants and microorganisms, we cannot have the healthy ecosystems that we rely on to provide us with the air we breathe and the food we eat.
And people also value nature of itself..
Biodiversity supports human and societal needs, including food and nutrition security, energy, development of medicines and pharmaceuticals and freshwater, which together underpin good health.
It also supports economic opportunities, and leisure activities that contribute to overall wellbeing..
And if personal health is beyond the reach of the doctor, a healthy society is certainly beyond the mandate of the medical profession
By “healthy society” I don't mean one in which we have extinguished the social determinants of health
A healthy society is much more than a community in which the causes of disease are minimised
In this context, the Government of Sweden, WHO, and the Wellcome Trust convened a meeting on Healthy Societies for Healthy Populations with Wilton Park on Feb 10–12, 2020, at Wiston House in the UK
It is one where, at the very least, human creativity is free to flourish, individuals have the liberty to be who they wish to be (without violating the liberties of others), and the spirit of life (all life and not merely human life) prospers
Can nations struggling with a multitude of imperfections turn themselves into healthy societies?
