Arturo Ariño: "Biodiversity is one of the greatest sources of health we have".

"A good walk in the forest is as effective as a Prozac pill". With this sentence Arturo Ariño, researcher at the Institute of Biodiversity and Environment and scientific director of the Science Museum of the University of Navarra, concluded his presentation, emphasizing that biodiversity is an important source of health and that the enjoyment of nature has positive consequences on the health of citizens.

Arturo Ariño has given the session "Health and biodiversity" within the program of the XII SEMTSI Congress(Spanish Society of Tropical Medicine and International Health) organized by ISTUN. In the session, the professor of the University of Navarra emphasized the importance of managing natural, agricultural and urban ecosystems to promote people's health. In addition, he reviewed some of the main causes of biodiversity loss - overexploitation of resources, invasive species, habitat change, pollution and climate change - as well as the consequences for humans. "It is essential to stop biodiversity loss and habitat changes leading to extinctions and loss of genetic richness."

Ariño pointed out the dependence of human health on biodiversity and highlighted five factors that have an immediate connection: health, resources, therapies, ecosystem services and landscapes.

The morning session, entitled "One Health-Eco Health" and moderated by Guadalupe Miró,also featured Rafael Ruiz de Castañeda of the University of Geneva, who spoke on "Health at the human-animal-ecosystem interface", and Pamela Carolina Köster of the Carlos III Health Institute of Madrid, who spoke on "Zoonosis and wildlife conservation".

The 12th SEMTSI Congress will be held from March 8 to 10 at the University Museum of Navarra, and will bring together experts from all over the world to reflect on the role of globalization in the transmission of infectious diseases between humans and animals.