Page - 1 - in Biodiversity and Health in the Face of Climate Change

1© The Author(s) 2019 M. R. Marselle et al. (eds.), Biodiversity and Health in the Face of Climate Change, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02318-8_1 Chapter 1 Biodiversity and  Health in  the  Face of  Climate Change: Challenges, Opportunities and  Evidence Gaps Melissa  R.  Marselle, Jutta  Stadler, Horst  Korn, Katherine  N.  Irvine, and  Aletta  Bonn Abstract Climate change presents significant challenges to human health and bio- diversity. Increased numbers of extreme climate events, such as heat waves, droughts or flooding, threaten human health and well-being, both directly and indirectly, through impaired ecosystem functioning and reduced ecosystem services. In addi- tion, the prevalence of non-communicable diseases is rising, causing ill health and accelerating costs to the health sector. Nature-based solutions, such as the provision and management of biodiversity, can facilitate human health and well-being, and mitigate the negative effects of climate change. The growing recognition of the importance of biodiversity’s contribution to human health offers great potential for maximising synergies between public health, climate change adaptation and nature M. R. Marselle (*) Department of Ecosystem Services, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research  – UFZ, Leipzig, Germany German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany e-mail: melissa.marselle@ufz.de J. Stadler · H. Korn Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN), Isle of Vilm, Putbus, Germany e-mail: jutta.stadler@bfn.de; horst.korn@bfn.de K. N. Irvine Social, Economic and Geographical Sciences Research Group, The James Hutton Institute, Aberdeen, Scotland, UK e-mail: katherine.irvine@hutton.ac.uk A. Bonn Department of Ecosystem Services, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research  – UFZ, Leipzig, Germany German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany Institute of Biodiversity, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany e-mail: aletta.bonn@ufz.de