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Sustaining Life
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Biodiversity and Human Health

The natural world and its diverse components function as interconnected webs of life across the globe, and it is from these webs that humankind is sheltered, fed and healed. The Center’s Biodiversity and Human Health Program has completed the most comprehensive scientific review of the connections between human health and biodiversity, which has been published in the book Sustaining Life, and is now engaged in a major educational outreach initiative.

Sustaining Life: How Human Health Depends on Biodiversity
The book Sustaining Life: How Human Health Depends on Biodiversity was published in June 2008 by Oxford University Press, and was co-sponsored by the U.N. Environment Programme, the U.N. Development Programme, the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Edited and written by the Center’s Eric Chivian and Aaron Bernstein, with contributions by over 100 leading scientists, Sustaining Life presents a comprehensive—and sobering—view of how human medicines, biomedical research, the emergence and spread of infectious diseases, and the production of food, bothon land and in the oceans, depend on biodiversity. Sustaining Life draws on the latest research, but is written in language a general reader can easily understand. Through a Center grant, this full-color, hardcover, over 500-page book is available at less than half its normal cost to make it as accessible as possible.

Acclaim
Sustaining Life has received numerous accolades for its rigorous review of biodiversity science and its unique exploration of the role of the natural world in human health. Former Vice President Al Gore said Sustaining Life is “the most complete and powerful argument I have seen for the importance of preserving biodiversity” and Professor Don Kennedy, former Editor-in-Chief of Science magazine, said the book is “the best work ever on what biodiversity means to human health.” The book has also been named “Best Biology Book of 2008” by the Library Journal, along with Bert Hölldobler’s and Edward O. Wilson’sbook The Superorganism.

Lectures and Events
Sustaining Life is featured in a number of lectures and events around the world. Click here to see a list of recent and upcoming events, as well as online lectures and media appearances.

Future Work
Future goals of the Biodiversity and Human Health Program are focused on disseminating the material found in Sustaining Life to a wider audience with a major effort to have the book adopted as a text at colleges and universities. The Center has published a brief executive summary of the book so that its critical message will be more easily understood and available to policymakers and global leaders. In addition, the Center is working closely with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and California Academy of Sciences to develop a "Biodiversity and Human Health" exhibit. This walk-through, traveling exhibit will provide visitors with an interactive journey illustrating the interconnectedness of human beings with the natural world. The Center is also exploring publishing translations of Sustaining Life into Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Portuguese and French.