Human Health and Forests: A Global Overview of Issues, Practice and Policy

by Carol J. Pierce Colfer (Editor)

Overview

Hundreds of millions of people live and work in forests across the world. One vital aspect of their lives, yet largely unexamined, is the challenge of protecting and enhancing the unique relationship between the health of forests and the health of people. This book, written for a broad audience, is the first comprehensive introduction to the issues surrounding the health of people living in and around forests, particularly in Asia, South America and Africa.

Part I is a set of synthesis chapters, addressing policy, public health, environmental conservation and ecological perspectives on health and forests (including women and child health, medicinal plants and viral diseases such as Ebola, SARS and Nipah Encephalitis). Part II takes a multi-lens approach to lead the reader to a more concrete and holistic understanding. It features case studies from around the world that cover important issues such as the links between HIV/AIDS and the forest sector, and between diet and health. Part III looks at the specific challenges to health care delivery in forested areas, including remoteness and the integration of traditional medicine with modern health care. The generous use of boxes with specific examples adds layers of depth to the analyses. The book concludes with a synthesis designed for use by practitioners and policymakers to work with forest dwellers to improve their health and their ecosystems.

This book is a vital addition to the knowledge base of all professionals, academics and students working on forests, natural resources management, health and development worldwide.

Published with CIFOR and People and Plants International

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781136563713
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	05/04/2012
Series:	People and Plants International Conservation
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	400
File size:	8 MB

About the Author

Carol J. Pierce Colfer is Principal Scientist in the Governance Program at CIFOR, in Bogor, Indonesia, where her work aims to improve the lives of people living in and near forests. She is co-editor of The Politics of Decentralization (2005).

Table of Contents

Foreword * Introduction * Part I: Synthetic Analyses * Human Health and Forests: An Overview * Health, Habitats and Medicinal Plant Use * The Nutritional Role of Forest Plant Foods for Rural Communities * Wood: The Fuel that Warms You Thrice * Forest Women, Health and Childbearing * The Gender Agenda and Tropical Forest Diseases * Bat-Borne Viral Diseases * Deforestation and Malaria: Revisiting the Human Ecology Perspective * Part II: Thematic and Regional Health Slices * The Subversive Links between HIV/AIDS and the Forest Sector * Forest Disturbance and Health Risks to the Yanomami * Biodiversity, Environment and Health among Rainforest-Dwellers: An Evolutionary Perspective * Sociocultural Dimensions of Diet and Health in Forest-Dwellers Systems * Part III: Health-care Delivery in Forests * National Public Health Initiatives that Integrate Traditional Medicine * Approaching Conservation through Health * Hidden Suffering on the Island of Siberut, West Sumatra * Conclusions and Ways Forward * Afterword * Index

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

'This book, written for a broad audience, is the first comprehensive introduction to the issues surrounding the health of people living in and around forests, particularly in Asia, South America and Africa.... a vital addition to the knowledge base of all professionals, academics and students working on forests, natural resources management, health and development world-wide' - Bois & Forets des Tropiques

'Human Health and Forests represents an ambitious attempt to shed some multidisciplinary light on an issue of significant human-environmental importance. Written by an eclectic mix of ethno- ecologists, botanists, physicians, anthropologist, virologists, and many others, this collection synthesizes what is known, and what needs to be known, about the linkages between tropical forest ecology, culture, health, and policy.' - Robert Voeks, Economic Botany

'Undergraduate students should have little difficulty grasping the content, and economic botanists and ethno botanists will find much of value in Human Health and Forests.'- Robert Voeks, Economic Botany

Editorial Reviews

"This book, written for a broad audience, is the first comprehensive introduction to the issues surrounding the health of people living in and around forests, particularly in Asia, South America and Africa... a vital addition to the knowledge base of all professionals, academics and students working on forests, natural resources management, health and development world-wide" – Bois & Forets des Tropiques

"Human Health and Forests represents an ambitious attempt to shed some multidisciplinary light on an issue of significant human-environmental importance. Written by an eclectic mix of ethno- ecologists, botanists, physicians, anthropologist, virologists, and many others, this collection synthesizes what is known, and what needs to be known, about the linkages between tropical forest ecology, culture, health, and policy." – Robert Voeks, Economic Botany

"Undergraduate students should have little difficulty grasping the content, and economic botanists and ethno botanists will find much of value in Human Health and Forests." – Robert Voeks, Economic Botany

From the Publisher