“The rise of deadly new diseases such as SARS and bird flu could be linked to the destruction of the environment, the World Health Organization said on Friday.
“Human health is strongly linked to the health of ecosystems, which meet many of our most critical needs,” Maria Neira, director of WHO’s Department of Protection of the Human Environment told a news conference at the launch of a new report.
“As a result of human actions, the structure and the world’s ecosystems changed more rapidly in the second half of the twentieth century than at any other time in human history,” the report said.” [Read more]