ABOUT THIS BOOK

The implications of biodiversity loss for the global environment have been widely discussed, but only recently has attention been paid to its direct and serious effects on human health. Biodiversity loss affects the spread of human diseases, causes a loss of medical models, diminishes the supplies of raw materials for drug discovery and biotechnology, and threatens food production and water quality.

Biodiversity and Human Health brings together leading thinkers on the global environment and biomedicine to explore the human health consequences of the loss of biological diversity. Based on a two-day conference sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the Smithsonian Institution, the book opens a dialogue among experts from the fields of public health, biology, epidemiology, botany, ecology, demography, and pharmacology on this vital but often neglected concern.

Contributors discuss the uses and significance of biodiversity to the practice of medicine today, and develop strategies for conservation of these critical resources. Topics examined include:

the causes and consequences of biodiversity loss

emerging infectious diseases and the loss of biodiversity

the significance and use of both prescription and herbal biodiversity-derived remedies

indigenous and local peoples and their health care systems

sustainable use of biodiversity for medicine

an agenda for the future

In addition to the editors, contributors include Anthony Artuso, Byron Bailey, Jensa Bell, Bhaswati Bhattacharya, Michael Boyd, Mary S. Campbell, Eric Chivian, Paul Cox, Gordon Cragg, Andrew Dobson, Kate Duffy-Mazan, Robert Engelman, Paul Epstein, Alexandra S. Fairfield, John Grupenhoff, Daniel Janzen, Catherine A. Laughin, Katy Moran, Robert McCaleb, Thomas Mays, David Newman, Charles Peters, Walter Reid, and John Vandermeer.

The book provides a common framework for physicians and biomedical researchers who wish to learn more about environmental concerns, and for members of the environmental community who desire a greater understanding of biomedical issues.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Francesca Grifo is director of the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

Joshua Rosenthal is director of biodiversity programs at the Fogarty International Center of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword \ Thomas E. Lovejoy
Preface \ Philip E. Schambra
Acknowledgments
Introduction \ Francesca Grifo and Joshua Rosenthal

PART I. Causes and Consequences of Biodiversity Loss for Human Health
Chapter 1. Global Environmental Degradation and Biodiversity Loss: Implications for Human Health \ Eric Chivian
Chapter 2. Earthly Dominion: Population Growth, Biodiversity, and Health \ Robert Engleman
Chapter 3. Biodiversity and Emerging Infectious Diseases: Integrating Health and Ecosystem Monitoring \ Paul R. Epstein, Andrew Dobson, and John Vandermeer
Chapter 4. Fatal Synergisms: Interactions between Infectious Diseases, Human Population Growth, and Loss of Biodiversity \ Andrew Dobson, Mary S. Campbell, and Jensa Bell
Chapter 5. Biodiversity Loss In and Around Agroecosystems \ John Vandermeer

PART II. Drug Discovery from Biological Diversity
Chapter 6. The Origins of Prescription Drugs Contents \ Francesca Grifo, David Newman, Alexandra S. Fairfield, Bhaswati Bhattacharya, and John T. Grupenhoff
Chapter 7. Natural Products for the Treatment of Infectious Diseases \ Catherine A. Laughlin and Alexandra S. Fairfield
Chapter 8. Capturing the Chemical Value of Biodiversity: Economic Perspectives and Policy Prescriptions \ Anthony Artuso

PART Ill. Biodiversity and Traditional Health Systems
Chapter 9. Indigenous Peoples and Conservation \ Paul Alan Cox
Chapter 10. Medicinal Plants for Healing the Planet: Biodiversity and Environmental Health Care \ Robert S. McCaleb
Chapter 11. Returning Benefits from Ethnobotanical Drug Discovery to Native Communities \ Katy Moran

PART IV. An Agenda for the Future: Conserving Biodiversity and Human Health
Chapter 12. A Paradigm for the Equitable Sharing of Benefits Resulting from Biodiversity Research and Development \ Thomas D. Mays, Kate Duffy-Mazan, Gordon Cragg, and Michael Boyd
Chapter 13. Integrating Drug Discovery, Biodiversity Conservation, and Economic Development: Early Lessons from the
International Cooperative Biodiversity Groups \ Joshua Rosenthal
Chapter 14. Causes and Consequences of Biodiversity Loss: Liquidation of Natural Capital and Biodiversity
Resource Development in Costa Rica \ Daniel H. Janzen
Chapter 15. Sustainable Use of Biodiversity: Myths, Realities, and Potential \ Charles M. Peters
Chapter 16. Opportunities for Collaboration between the Biomedical and Conservation Communities \ Walter V. Reid

Afterword: A Proposal for a National Council on Biodiversity and Human Health \ Byron J. Bailey and John T. Grupenhoff
Contributors
Index

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