It’s no surpise to anyone that a diversity of life forms reflects the health of an environment. However, the message is often lost when set against human development goals.

In a New Scientist article on a 2005 Biodiversity Conference in Galway, the writer made the point that human health is adversely affected by loss of biodiversity. Organisms like the bilharzia-carrying snail have become a threat where increasing levels of human activity have led to a decrease in snail populations in Kenya, for example.

There is fuller discussion of the conference report available at http://www.sci-tech.co.uk/biodev.php