Page - 239 - in Biodiversity and Health in the Face of Climate Change
Image of the Page - 239 -
Text of the Page - 239 -
239
mediators or outcomes (see also commentary in Sect. 10.4.1). Given the complexity
of both nature and health, illuminating research will necessitate interdisciplinary
teams comfortably working across epistemologies (Diaz et al. 2018) and able to
work with community groups and policy-makers to gather relevant data (CBD
2017c).
10.5 Implications and Conclusions
There is increasing international recognition of the role of biodiversity in human
health and the relevance of considering the spiritual domain. Using a broad set of
search terms, we identified an extensive body of scholarship that could provide
important insights into the complexity of the relationship between biodiversity and
spiritual well-being. We have identified and explained four themes from this litera-
ture: (i) influence of spiritual traditions on biodiversity; (ii) sacred places as reposi-
tories of biodiversity; (iii) the spiritual domain of ecosystems services; and (iv)
effects of biodiversity on spiritual well-being. We have brought these strands
together into a conceptual model and discussion of measurement issues that can
inform future research. Research into spiritual well-being benefits from the natural
environment needs to incorporate more detailed assessments of the environment,
such as measures of biodiversity. The identified sacred places literature primarily
focuses on measuring biodiversity; adding culturally-appropriate measures of spiri-
tual well-being into these studies would address calls for interdisciplinary work and
would help fill the gap of evidence on biodiversity and spiritual well-being. Within
the ecosystem services rhetoric, the spiritual domain seems to be largely associated
with indigenous peoples who hold monistic worldviews. Yet there are important
emerging spiritualities as well as existing world religions that also have sacred
beliefs about the importance of the natural environment. We need to embrace these
as well. Additionally, given the availability of spiritual well-being scales that con-
sider the relationship with the environment, these could be incorporated into
research.
Lastly, we come to the question of âso whatâ? The non-communicable diseases
that the world currently facesÂ
â obesity, heart disease, depressionÂ
â would suggest a
need to focus on physical and mental well-being, thus raising the question of what
an understanding of biodiversity and spiritual well-being would bring to such dis-
cussions. Yet the literature identified through our review, in particular the qualitative
studies, illustrates an important additional dimension that can answer the question
posed by E.O. Wilson in 1993 of âwhat service [do species bring] to the human
spirit?â (p. 37). Given the role of biodiversity in health and the numerous ways in
which biodiversity is related to spiritual well-being, the spiritual domain is clearly
an important aspect of how nature influences us. Perhaps it is time to embrace this
ethereal, enigmatic aspect of human culture and bring it into the mutually beneficial
service of biodiversity conservation.
10 Biodiversity and Spiritual Well-being
Biodiversity and Health in the Face of Climate Change
- Title
- Biodiversity and Health in the Face of Climate Change
- Authors
- Melissa Marselle
- Jutta Stadler
- Horst Korn
- Katherine Irvine
- Aletta Bonn
- Publisher
- Springer Open
- Date
- 2019
- Language
- English
- License
- CC BY 4.0
- ISBN
- 978-3-030-02318-8
- Size
- 15.5 x 24.0 cm
- Pages
- 508
- Keywords
- Environment, Environmental health, Applied ecology, Climate change, Biodiversity, Public health, Regional planning, Urban planning
- Categories
- Naturwissenschaften Umwelt und Klima