Improving rural health care reduces illegal logging and conserves carbon in a tropical forest
| Autor: | Isabel J. Jones, David López-Carr, Jonathan Jennings, Andrew J. MacDonald, Nurul Ihsan Fawzi, Mahardika Putra Purba, Lynne Gaffikin, Ashley Emerson, Michele Barry, Katie Fankhauser, Zac Yung-Chun Liu, Monica Nirmala, Kinari Webb, Giulio A. De Leo, Susanne H. Sokolow, Andrea J. Lund, Skylar R. Hopkins, Andrew J Chamberlin, Arthur G. Blundell |
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| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2020 |
| Předmět: |
Adult
Male Conservation of Natural Resources 010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences Life on Land Climate Change Social Sciences planetary health Rural Health Forests human health 01 natural sciences Sustainability Science natural climate solutions Trees 03 medical and health sciences Deforestation Health care Diagnosis Humans Disease 030304 developmental biology 0105 earth and related environmental sciences tropical forests 0303 health sciences Tropical Climate Multidisciplinary National park business.industry Agroforestry Logging Global warming conservation Forestry Biological Sciences Middle Aged Livelihood Carbon Climate Action Sustainability Female Business Health Impact Assessment Illegal logging Delivery of Health Care Environmental Sciences |
| Zdroj: | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol 117, iss 45 |
| ISSN: | 1091-6490 0027-8424 |
| Popis: | Significance Here, we show how a conservation–health care exchange in rural Borneo preserved globally important forest carbon and simultaneously improved human health and well-being, in a region of historically intense environmental destruction, widespread poverty, and unmet health needs. To evaluate this long-term conservation and health intervention, we analyzed earth observation data, clinic health records, and socioeconomic surveys to quantify conservation, health, and sustainable development outcomes simultaneously. Results demonstrate an actionable framework for aligning cross-sectoral goals and objectively quantifying intervention outcomes across both conservation and human health targets. Tropical forest loss currently exceeds forest gain, leading to a net greenhouse gas emission that exacerbates global climate change. This has sparked scientific debate on how to achieve natural climate solutions. Central to this debate is whether sustainably managing forests and protected areas will deliver global climate mitigation benefits, while ensuring local peoples’ health and well-being. Here, we evaluate the 10-y impact of a human-centered solution to achieve natural climate mitigation through reductions in illegal logging in rural Borneo: an intervention aimed at expanding health care access and use for communities living near a national park, with clinic discounts offsetting costs historically met through illegal logging. Conservation, education, and alternative livelihood programs were also offered. We hypothesized that this would lead to improved health and well-being, while also alleviating illegal logging activity within the protected forest. We estimated that 27.4 km2 of deforestation was averted in the national park over a decade (∼70% reduction in deforestation compared to a synthetic control, permuted P = 0.038). Concurrently, the intervention provided health care access to more than 28,400 unique patients, with clinic usage and patient visitation frequency highest in communities participating in the intervention. Finally, we observed a dose–response in forest change rate to intervention engagement (person-contacts with intervention activities) across communities bordering the park: The greatest logging reductions were adjacent to the most highly engaged villages. Results suggest that this community-derived solution simultaneously improved health care access for local and indigenous communities and sustainably conserved carbon stocks in a protected tropical forest. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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