Page - 375 - in Biodiversity and Health in the Face of Climate Change

375 16.4 Working Together to  Promote Biodiversity Conservation and  Health The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the SDGs will be the driving force behind much of the global work on sustainable development and conservation for the next decade (WCPA 2017). Biodiversity conservation, protected areas and conservation of natural ecosystems are directly relevant to many of the goals of the 2030 Agenda: to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages (SDG 3), water (SDG6), sustainable cities (SDG11), climate change adaptation (SDG 13) and biodiversity (SDGs 14 and 15) (WCPA 2017). It is becoming increasingly clear that it is essential to build new partnerships to accelerate transformational change that will contribute to the well-being of people and the planet. Initiatives such as #NatureForAll, which is led by the IUCN’s World Commission on Protected Areas and Commission on Education and Communication and the Salzburg  Global Seminar’s Parks for the Planet Forum (Salzburg Global Seminar 2015), are efforts to do just that. #NatureForAll is engaging hundreds of partner organisations to scale up efforts to raise awareness of nature and its values and to facilitate opportunities for people from all walks of life to experience, con- nect with and benefit from nature. The aim of this initiative is not only to improve health and well-being outcomes but also to increase cross-sectoral support and action for nature conservation by promoting the relevance of biodiversity conserva- tion to other sectors. The Parks for the Planet Forum is a collaborative platform for transformative leadership that brings thought leaders and change-makers from diverse disciplines together to find ways to put nature at the very heart of human health and well-being, security and prosperity across the planet. These processes are calling for greater collaboration among biodiversity and natural resource experts, medical scientists, health practitioners, urban and regional planners, educators, economists and others to recognise, quantify and maximise the many health and well-being benefits to society from parks and nature both inside and outside cities. While the provision of nature-based solutions is traditionally in the realm of environmental organisations and planners, greater involvement of the health sector will be critical for maximising benefits for both health and nature. Integrating policy on biodiversity, health and urban planning to realise joint benefits requires data from all fields to be linked and communicated to policy makers, to be considered in impact assessments and economic valuation of decisions (WHO and UNEP 2008;  WHO and CBD 2015). In Toronto, Canada, for example, the City Council increased investments in urban green space in the city, including an increase in tree canopy cover, after the Medical Officer of Health cited studies on the benefits this would provide for health and reduced pollution (Toronto Medical Officer of Health 2015). Elsewhere medical practitioners and parks agencies are promoting experi- ences of nature as part of overall health-care  (see  Box 16.5). 16 Nature-Based Solutions and  Protected Areas to  Improve Urban Biodiversity…