We sometimes talk about agricultural biodiversity as if there’s a line that separates it from other kinds of — wild — biodiversity, but of course it doesn’t work like that. There are all kinds of intearactions. For example, diseases can move from wild to domesticated species. Given all the zoonotic diseases that have made the news lately, it seems like it would be sensible to look at human, domestic animal and wildlife health together, rather than in isolation from each other. But apparently such an integrated approach is pretty rare. An initiative of the Wildlife Conservation Society is trying to change all that:
…improving livestock health not only improves human nutrition and incomes, but in the case of zoonotic diseases also contributes directly to improved human health. In addition, healthier domestic animals contribute to securing healthier wildlife (and vice versa), decreasing chances of disease transmission at the livestock/wildlife interface. These cross-sectoral benefits are not all “automatic,” but require that explicit linkages be made between improved food security and health and more sustainable environmental stewardship from the household and community levels on up.
