Mapping evidence on integrated conservation and health projects worldwide: an appeal for help in identifying past and ongoing interventions
Authors: Jo Middleton, Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka, Jonathan Jennings, Richard Hazell, Alan J Stewart
Journal: The Lancet Planetary Health (2021)

Protection of biodiversity is fundamental to human wellbeing,1Horton R Planetary health's next frontier—biodiversity.Lancet. 2017; 3902132Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (4) Google Scholar and, in turn, serving human health in medically underserved areas can sometimes strengthen biodiversity conservation.2Middleton J Cassell JA Colthart G et al.Rationale, experience and ethical considerations underpinning integrated actions to further global goals for health and land biodiversity in Papua New Guinea.Sustain Sci. 2020; 15: 1653-1664Crossref Scopus (4) Google Scholar We are collecting information for a systematic evidence map of interventions worldwide that are, or have been, integrating action on health and conservation (eg, medical services for communities around reserves; park ranger occupational health; population–health–environment projects; in situ conservation of endangered wild medicinal plants; habitat protection to reduce zoonotic spillover; etc). We are involved in such projects with partner communities around the Gunung Palung National Park in Indonesia,3Jones IJ MacDonald AJ Hopkins SR et al.Improving rural health care reduces illegal logging and conserves carbon in a tropical forest.PNAS. 2020; 117: 28515-28524Crossref PubMed Scopus (9) Google Scholar Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda,4Kalema-Zikusoka G Byonanebye J Scaling up a one-health model of conservation through public health: experiences in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.Lancet Glob Health. 2019; 7: S34Summary Full Text Full Text PDF Google Scholar and Wanang Conservation Area in Papua New Guinea.2Middleton J Cassell JA Colthart G et al.Rationale, experience and ethical considerations underpinning integrated actions to further global goals for health and land biodiversity in Papua New Guinea.Sustain Sci. 2020; 15: 1653-1664Crossref Scopus (4) Google Scholar We believe an open access evidence map on such interventions in both terrestrial2Middleton J Cassell JA Colthart G et al.Rationale, experience and ethical considerations underpinning integrated actions to further global goals for health and land biodiversity in Papua New Guinea.Sustain Sci. 2020; 15: 1653-1664Crossref Scopus (4) Google Scholar and marine habitats5Robson L Holston M Savitzky C Mohan V Integrating community-based family planning services with local marine conservation initiatives in southwest Madagascar: changes in contraceptive use and fertility.Stud Fam Plann. 2017; 48: 73-82Crossref PubMed Scopus (14) Google Scholar would be useful, especially to those setting up new projects in the expanding Planetary Health movement. Projects range from basic health interventions bolted on to pre-existing conservation programmes as a tactic to generate goodwill (eg, vaccination rounds bordering national parks) to complex schemes to synergise action on health and biodiversity which might be driven (and funded) by concerns for human welfare as much as conservation. However, our mapping so far indicates many of these interventions are carried out by non-governmental organisations in response to local needs and are not subsequently published in the academic literature. We are therefore reaching out to the wider Planetary Health community to help us find and map projects, especially those that might only ever have been published in grey literature, or not reported at all. You can help in two ways. Firstly, if you have been or are involved in such a project (big or small) we want to hear about it. We are not evaluating projects, simply mapping where they are or were, what they have been doing, and what data are available about them. The easiest option to provide information for the map is to fill in our 20–30 minute online form. It covers the following: project location and dates, project background, human health and conservation components, and project outcomes. Alternatively, if you suggest a date and time, we can have a phone or Zoom call if that is easier for you. Secondly, we would be grateful if you could forward this Correspondence to others who might be able to contribute. Thank you. We declare no competing interests. Our evidence mapping is funded by the Sussex Sustainability Research Programme (University of Sussex, UK; SSRP2016-023), and the Darwin Initiative (Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, UK government; 26002). Neither funding source has had involvement in the study design; in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; in the writing of this Correspondence; or in the decision to submit it for publication. Offline: Planetary health's next frontier—biodiversityMedicine's inspiring power is the moral importance it attaches to human life. The commitment of health workers to the protection and strengthening of humanity is a bulwark against violence, repression, and abuse. It is in their defence of life and human flourishing that medicine and medical science find their political and social force. But the priority medicine gives to being human is also its great conceit—and flaw. What has become increasingly clear is that, as Emmett Duffy and his colleagues put it in Nature earlier this year, “Human well-being depends strongly on the interacting web of living species, so much so that we take this for granted.” If we are concerned about human health, we should also be concerned about the health of the biosphere that we inhabit. Full-Text PDF