Ounce of Prevention: Making the Link between Health and Conservation View full text (PDF)
Authors: R. Margoluis, S. Myers, J. Allen, J. Roca, M. Melnyk, J. Swanson Publication Number: 109 Publication Date: 2001
It is clear that many local populations rely directly on the biodiversity around them for survival, and that they prefer not to destroy it. How then can the conservation community take advantage of this naturally occurring incentive to conserve? If health is a strong motivational force for conservation, how can we best harness it to reach conservation goals? What are some of the characteristics of community-based conservation and development projects that successfully link human health to conservation? What have others in the field learned about the opportunities and challenges to make this link work for conservation? These are the questions that drove our research. In this document, we examine human health at personal, family, and community levels as a motivating force for conservation.