EcoHealth Alliance
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| Founded | 1971 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Gerald Durrell |
| Focus | Wildlife conservation, Conservation medicine |
| Location |
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Area served
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Worldwide |
| Slogan | Local Conservation, Global Health |
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Formerly called
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Wildlife Trust |
| [1] | |
EcoHealth Alliance, known as Wildlife Trust until 2010,[1] is a non-profit, non-governmental organization headquartered in New York City working on conservation ecology and issues in the United States and around the world.
EcoHealth Alliance is an international organization of scientists dedicated to the conservation of biodiversity. EcoHealth Alliance’s work spans the U.S. and more than 20 countries in Central and South America, the Caribbean, Africa and Asia to research ways for people and wildlife to share ecosystems for their mutual survival. EcoHealth Alliance, a conservation science innovator, specializes in saving biodiversity in human-dominated landscapes where ecological health is most at risk because of habitat loss, species imbalance, pollution and other environmental issues caused by human-induced change.
EcoHealth Alliance was founded in 1971 by British naturalist, author and television personality Gerald Durrell, who is perhaps best known for his many entertaining books based on his life’s work with animals, as well as a dozen series on the BBC. EcoHealth Alliance, has expanded its mission to include not only endangered species conservation and training for local scientists, but also international conservation organization development, resolution of human-wildlife conflicts, integrated conservation and community development projects, as well as a new field linking environment and health – Conservation Medicine.
EcoHealth Alliance has leveraged research expertise and innovation through a series of strategic alliances such as the Wildlife Trust Alliance and the Consortium for Conservation Medicine both based at EcoHealth Alliance.
The Consortium for Conservation Medicine is a unique collaborative institution that strives to understand the link between anthropogenic environmental change, the health of all species and the conservation of biodiversity. The Consortium for Conservation Medicine consists of prestigious institutions and organizations including Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine Center for Conservation Medicine, EcoHealth Alliance, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, University of Wisconsin–Madison Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies and USGS National Wildlife Health Center. The Consortium for Conservation Medicine also has an associates group consisting of lead scientists is the fields of ecology, biology, zoology, epidemiology and disease ecology.
The Wildlife Trust Alliance (WTA) is a growing international network of science-based conservation organizations and individual members dedicated to understanding the consequences of human activities on biodiversity, ecosystem function and health. The Alliance seeks to develop enduring solutions for a sustainable world.
Activities
EcoHealth Alliance is actively involved in the protection of species around the world, such as:
- India and Sri Lanka: Asian elephants
- Bolivia: bats
- Mexico: sea turtles and bats
- Indonesia: milky storks and insects
- Ethiopia: African wild ass, Grevy's zebra
- Gabon: West African manatee
- Argentina: La Plata dolphin, Commerson's dolphin and southern right whales
- Venezuela: parrots and sea turtles
- Brazil: Brazilian manatees, tamarins, jaguars, parrots and tapirs
- Belize: Antillean manatees
- Cuba: sea turtles and manatees
- United States: northern right whales, waterbirds and Florida manatees
It has been instrumental in local infrastructure development and education for in situ conservation, like the founding of the Center for Insect Conservation and Management (PEKA), in Indonesia. EcoHealth Alliance concentrates on impact studies, sustainability studies and in-situ infrastructure development for conservation. A case in point is the impact analysis of introduced mute swans in the Hudson River.
In 2014, a survey of rats in New York City conducted by Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health showed the rats carry numerous illness-causing pathogens, including bacteria that cause food poisoning (such as salmonella and E. coli) and dermatitis, pathogens that cause fevers (such as Seoul hantavirus and Leptospira), sapoviruses, cardioviruses, kobuviruses, parechoviruses, rotaviruses, and hepaciviruses, and some viruses never before seen in New York and some previously unknown to science.[2] Peter Daszak, president of EcoHealth Alliance, called the study "shocking and surprising", and described it as "a recipe for a public health nightmare."[3]
See also
References
External links
- EcoHealth Alliance, USA – official site
- Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust
- Wildlife Preservation Canada
- Wild Ones – children's chapter of the EcoHealth Alliance
