Int´l conference on health-promoting effects in Oct

An international workshop on the relationship between biodiversity and human health is going to be held for invited participants in Vuosaari, Helsinki on 23–25 October, said a press release of Finnish Environmental Institute (SYKE).

The relationship between nature and human health has recently received much attention around the world.

Being in nature has been shown to prevent many diseases and to speed up recovery. Nature activities reduce blood pressure and invigorate a distressed mind.

About 60 to 70 decision-makers and specialists in the health and environmental sector have been invited from Europe and Asia to the workshop to be held in Finland in October.

The people invited to the workshop also include representatives of developing countries and native people. Specialists from the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Environment and Health are expected to attend the conference.

The aim of the workshop is to strengthen cooperation between national agencies and institutions working with biodiversity and health in order to promote the implementation of the Strategic Plan for 2011–2020 of the international Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the related so-called Aichi Targets and sustainable development goals.

The conference will deal, for example, with the relationship between the implementation of the CBD and human health and with the best practices in integrating biodiversity and health issues into both international and regional nature conservation programmes and strategies of the health sector.

The regional capacity-building workshop on biodiversity and human health for the Europe Region will be organized by the international CBD in cooperation with the World Health Organization (WHO).

The Finnish organizers of the workshop include the Ministry of the Environment, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, including the expert institutions under them, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In addition to the Ministries of Finland, the conference is financially supported by the European Commission. Technical assistance is being provided by the European Centre for Environment and Health.