Environmental resilience and public health

The concept of resilience has been receiving increasing attention as a theoretical and practical basis for understanding and mitigating the environmental response to major stressors. The growing literature on environmental resilience generally has considered the response of ecosystems, ranging in scale from microareas to the planet; or of species, particularly those that are endangered. Resilience is also central to medicine and public health, and the term is increasingly being used in relation to response to disasters. Aging of individuals can be seen as a loss of resilience. The loss of the ability of an aging individual to isolate and buffer an insult to one organ is similar to the loss of feedback loops that would otherwise buffer ecosystems from damage and that are being impaired by population growth, global climate change and other stressors. Examples of public health activities that promote resilience of individuals and of communities include vaccination to help the body fight off an infectious agent and lessen the spread of disease; and worker safety and health training to decrease the likelihood of injuries. Public health has a strong and well-tested theoretical base that is highly relevant to the growing theoretical base underlying practical approaches to ecosystem resilience – which in turn can inform public and environmental health.