ABSTRACT
The right to health is well established as a fundamental right of every human being. Biodiversity is at the heart of the intricate web of life on Earth and the processes essential to its survival. Human mistreatment of the natural environment has turned out to have distinctly painful boomerang effects. Combined with mechanized agriculture and deforestation, climate change is also undermining subsistence farming and indigenous lifestyles in many parts of the world, driving millions of impoverished people to already crowded urban centres, where health facilities are often overburdened and the risk of contagion ever greater. Human-caused global changes, such as deforestation, activities of extractive industries including logging and mining, introduction of invasive species and urban development, are driving infectious disease emergence and spread, as well as biodiversity loss. The concept of ‘emerging infectious diseases’ has changed from a mere curiosity in the field of medicine to an entire discipline that has been gaining prominence.
