The global scientific evidence of the multiple types of benefits that forests, trees and green spaces have on human health has now been assessed by an international and interdisciplinary team of scientists.
The outcome is presented in a major report titled “Forests and Trees for Human Health: Pathways, Impacts, Challenges and Response Options” by the Global Forest Expert Panels (GFEP) Programme of the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO).
IUFRO unites more than 15,000 scientists in more than 630 member organizations – mainly public research centers and universities – in 115 countries and is a member of the International Science Council.
Contemporary human health challenges differ across the globe. In low- and middle-income countries, health is related to interactions with forests through food, medicinal plants, and clean water as well as infectious diseases, such as malaria and Zika virus. In high-income countries, there is a higher dominance of non-communicable diseases such as heart diseases and diabetes, but also mental disorders.
“Health benefits of forests are particularly important for vulnerable communities in low-income countries, like many countries in Africa, which have limited access to health-related services. Water filtration by forests, for example, helps fight diarrheal diseases among children in communities lacking access to water treatment technology”, Ranaivo Rasolofoson, Madagascar, researcher at Duke University, North Carolina, USA, and member of the Expert Panel on Forests and Human Health said.
Forests and trees provide medicinal plants, which are particularly important to Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs) and provide basic health care for 70% of the world’s population. A recent study revealed that the well-known African Baobab (Adansonia digitata) has multiple medicinal benefits in the treatment of infectious diseases and the bark’s extract has been found to be useful against malaria and fever.
The report can now be accessed (for free) at https://www.iufro.org/science/gfep/gfep-initiative/panel-on-forests-and-human-health/.
Speak with Djibril S. Dayamba, Senior Programme Officer with the African Forest Forum (AFF), Nairobi, Kenya, and Expert Panel member. Djibril says, “Forest management instruments in Africa, generally, do not integrate the promotion of health benefits from forest and tree resources.
Global crises have enhanced the need for consideration of forest and human health relations. This report shines a spotlight on the benefits forest and trees can provide to human health and calls on decision-makers in Africa and beyond to integrate these opportunities in the design of forest, health, or biodiversity policies and strategies, especially in places where modern health care facilities are scarce.”
