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3 An Ecological and Conservation Perspective
C. LEANN WHITE,1* JULIA S. LANKTON,1 DANIEL P. WALSH,1 JONATHAN M. SLEEMAN1 AND CRAIG STEPHEN2,3
1 US Geological Survey, National Wildlife Health Center, Madison, Wisconsin, USA; 2 Western College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada; 3 University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Introduction
Natural ecosystems are facing unprecedented threats that directly threaten human, animal and environmental well-being through decreases in critical ecosystem services (IPBES, 2019). The top five drivers causing the largest global impacts to biodiversity and ecosystem services include: (i) changes in land and sea use; (ii) direct exploitation of organisms (e.g. hunting and fishing); (iii) climate change; (iv) pollution; and (v) invasive alien species (IPBES, 2019). Although One Health acknowledges the link between the health of humans, animals and the environment, One Health discussions have historically focused on the prevention and control of infectious disease at the human–animal interface rather than these large-scale drivers of health. While One Health has succeeded in bringing awareness to the need for proactive disease control measures such as strengthened biosecurity and vaccine development (Roth et al., 2003; Zinsstag et al., 2009; Middleton et al., 2014; Machalaba et al., 2018), disease is only one component of health. In this chapter, we explore the potential for One Health to shift its focus from disease prevention to health promotion to more fully integrate solutions that protect the health of humans, animals and the ecosystems on which we all depend for our economies, livelihoods, food security and health. This shift would facilitate a more seamless inclusion of ecological health and environmental conservation in the One Health paradigm and can serve as the basis for a comprehensive approach to complex problems at the root of global health. A framework for creating and applying health metrics for wildlife and ecological systems is essential for measuring the success of actions aimed at maintaining or shifting systems to desired states.
The focus on disease in One Health
In the late 20th century the number of human infectious disease outbreaks increased globally (Smith et al., 2014). These outbreaks included a resurgence of diseases such as cholera, tuberculosis and viral gastroenteritis (Morse, 1995; Smith et al., 2014) and the emergence of diseases such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), bovine spongiform encephalopathy and Ebola heamorrhagic fever (Karesh and Cook, 2009). Many recent emerging pathogens were discovered to have animal origins (Jones et al., 2008), and their occurrence and spread were either directly or indirectly facilitated by humans. Through increasing global travel and trade, microbes began to rapidly traverse the globe (Morse, 1995). Infections such as SARS, which originated in small carnivores in Asia, spread via a hotel visitor to five continents in a matter of weeks (Karesh and Cook, 2009) and solidified the idea among the public health community that emerging zoonotic diseases could be a significant threat to global human health.
At a New York symposium in 2004, international health experts developed what became known as the ‘Manhattan Principles on One World One Health’ (Cook et al., 2004). These principles emphasized the need for ‘interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral approaches to disease prevention, surveillance, monitoring, control, and mitigation as well as to environmental conservation more broadly’. At a 2004 summit in Mexico City, Mexico the need for integration of human and animal health systems under the concept ‘one medicine’ was also proposed (Zinsstag et al., 2005). Although this was not the first time that interdisciplinary approaches to combating disease had been proposed, international support and continued emergence of new zoonotic diseases gave the One Health concept more widespread momentum and acceptance. For the next decade, the One Health community increased political and public awareness of the role of animals in disease emergence and brought about new investments such as the US Agency for International Development’s PREDICT programme, which focuses on wildlife most likely to carry new emerging infectious disease threats to humans. International collaborations such as the Global Early Warning System also formed to detect and assess health threats and emerging risks at the human–animal–ecosystems interface (FAO–OIE–WHO, 2019).
Prevention and control of diseases that traffic between wildlife populations, people and domestic animals have been, and will continue to be, important endeavours, particularly wildlife-associated infectious diseases with public health implications and pathogens
