Introduction Cover story Reports Research articles Useful Info Know Your Ecosystem
Announcement Executive Committee Limgis 2001 Lake2002
REPORTS
Human health and the urban environment project in Chennai
C. Rajasekara Murthy
Our health is affected much by the environment we are living in. Health and environmental studies show that there is a direct relationship between our general health and the environmental quality. Environmental pollution poses risks to ecosystem health, which in turn proves hazardous to our health. This principle breaks the barriers in
compartmentalized thinking and recognizes the multitude of pathways and channels for interaction within the ecosystem. In order to live in harmony with nature, we must take care of the ecosystem health. The concept is gaining momentum and has been adapted by international agencies in addressing environmental issues. Integration of environmental concerns within the overall economic developmental planning is vital and must be an on going process to mitigate the adverse effects to the ecosystem.
A number of examples exist where the linkage between human health and environmental pollution has significant dimension: local, regional and global. Understanding and managing the several interactions of environmental changes associated with economic development, population growth and human health require multidisciplinary co-operation among social, physical and life scientists. Ecologists, environmental scientists and engineers, and medical and health care professionals have a unique opportunity and responsibility in dealing with public health risks directly attributable to environmental pollution.
News about urban environmental problems in India gets grimmer everyday. Air pollution, contamination of drinking water supplies due to municipal and industrial wastes and mounting solid waste on the sidewalks pose serious threats to public health in the urban environment. Recognising the relationship between biophysical environment and human health, McMaster Institute of Environment and Health (Canada), in collaboration with the Department of Geography (University of Madras) and the Karnataka Environment Research Foundation (Bangalore), has proposed a human health and urban environment project, funded by the Canadian Social Sciences and Historical Research Council. The proposed project will apply and evaluate an adaptive ecosystem approach to planning and managing human health in two urban areas of comparable size with different biophysical characteristics: the golden horseshoe region (includes greater Toronto area and Hamilton), Ontario (Canada) and Chennai (Tamil
Nadu, India). The study will analyse and evaluate the experience with ecosystem approaches in the greater Toronto-Hamilton region to human health issues. It will then apply the Canadian experience and knowledge to formulate an ecosystem approach to human health issues in
Chennai, where holistic and adaptive approaches in scientific management of environment and human health are not explicitly
recognised. The study will highlight strengths of the ecosystem approach, barriers to its implementation and critical gaps in knowledge. This comparative study between developed and developing countries will contribute theoretical models for ecosystem management focused on the protection and enhancement of human health in urban environments.
A number of agencies in Chennai, including the Corporation of Chennai, the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, the Tuberculosis Research Centre and
'Exnora' an NGO have shown keen interest in participating in the project. An interdisciplinary team of scientists with broad skills, appropriate for the project's objectives, is being led by Prof. Martin Bunch of McMaster Institute of Environment and Health.
