EcoHealth
The Water Innovation Centre (WIC) will work on the theme of EcoHealth and Watersheds, based on collaborative work with Canadian academic partners. This work is based on the integration of two emerging and non-exclusive natural resources management paradigms: (i) EcoHealth, which states that human health and well-being are vital outcomes of effective ecosystem management and (ii) watershed-based integrated water resources management (IWRM), which identifies watersheds/basins as appropriate units for managing ecosystems. The EcoHealth and Watersheds Project translates the Ecosystem Services Human Well-Being links put forth by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment into practical governance approaches.
Research has linked the increase in water-borne disease outbreaks with intense precipitation and flood events. Watershed or basin-based ecosystem management can buffer such impacts and reduce public health risks. The public health benefits of healthy wetland complexes deserve particular attention. In November, 2008, the International Institute for Sustainable Development released a foundation paper entitled EcoHealth and Watersheds (PDF - 884 kb), which examines the integration of EcoHealth with water resources management.
The fundamental opportunity that WIC recognizes in the EcoHealth approach is that preventive public health through ecosystem management may be a much more efficient allocation of scarce resources than standard health spending. WIC is very interested in developing this case and presenting it to public health practitioners.
