The ESSP welcomes today a brand new project… in addition to ones on carbon, water and food security, they now have a tops-it-all programme on human health.

There are a handful of centres around the world that already look at the interactions between climate change and health. The difference here will be an even broader remit. No longer just concerned with how rising temperatures will shift pests from one place to the next, or how monsoon patterns affect mosquito booms and malaria outbreaks, researchers will also be looking at how biodiversity loss affects health. That’s a mind bender. If fish die out then I suppose the answer is clear – that means less protein and vitamins for someone somewhere. But what if we lose all our dung beetles? Or one variety of grass in Africa? Can the elimination of polar bears make us ill? We perhaps will soon know.

The ESSP welcomes today a brand new project… in addition to ones on carbon, water and food security, they now have a tops-it-all programme on human health.

There are a handful of centres around the world that already look at the interactions between climate change and health. The difference here will be an even broader remit. No longer just concerned with how rising temperatures will shift pests from one place to the next, or how monsoon patterns affect mosquito booms and malaria outbreaks, researchers will also be looking at how biodiversity loss affects health. That’s a mind bender. If fish die out then I suppose the answer is clear – that means less protein and vitamins for someone somewhere. But what if we lose all our dung beetles? Or one variety of grass in Africa? Can the elimination of polar bears make us ill? We perhaps will soon know.