Conservation Medicine 4

The Historical Evolution of Conservation Medicine:

From the Margins to the Mainstream of Planetary Health

As global attention turns toward human-induced climate change, emerging infectious diseases, and ecological collapse, a growing consensus has emerged: human health can no longer be viewed in isolation. Conservation Medicine—a field once considered fringe—is now at the forefront of efforts to understand and address health at the intersection of people, animals, and ecosystems.

But how did we get here?

The story of Conservation Medicine is one of convergence, interdisciplinary vision, and urgency, shaped by centuries of ecological insight and decades of scientific breakthroughs. It is both an ancient idea and a modern necessity.

Ancient Roots: A Holistic View of Health and Well-being

Long before Conservation Medicine was formalized, Indigenous and traditional knowledge systems across the globe recognized that human health and well-being was inseparable from the land, water, animals and plants with which people coexisted.

• Indigenous communities practiced relational medicine, based on ecological balance, reciprocity, and spiritual respect for the natural world.

• Ancient Greek and Chinese philosophies also emphasized balance between the body and its surrounding environment—precursors to today's ecological health models.

These early perspectives laid the philosophical foundation for what we now call Planetary Health, decades before scientific language could fully articulate it.

20th Century: Fragmentation of Disciplines

The 20th century brought tremendous advances in biomedical science, public health, and veterinary medicine. However, these advances often came at the cost of disciplinary silos:

• Human medicine became increasingly urban and hospital-centered.

• Veterinary medicine focused on agriculture, companion animals, and livestock.

• Ecology and wildlife biology expanded in response to habitat loss and extinction threats—but largely outside of clinical care systems.

While each field made significant progress independently, a systems-level understanding of health across species and ecosystems remained elusive.

1990s: The Birth of Conservation Medicine

The term Conservation Medicine was coined in the 1990s by a group of visionary scientists, physicians, and veterinarians—including Dr. Mary Pearl, Dr. Gary Tabor, and Dr. A. Alonso Aguirre—who recognized that the major health threats of the future would emerge at the intersection of human, animal, and environmental systems.

This was catalyzed by key global events:

• The HIV/AIDS pandemic, which originated from primates

• The rise of Ebola, avian flu, and other zoonotic diseases

• Rapid deforestation, climate change, and biodiversity loss

In 1996, the Consortium for Conservation Medicine was established, and in 2002, the landmark book, Conservation Medicine: Ecological Health in Practice, formalized the field.

Conservation Medicine vs. One Health and EcoHealth

While closely aligned with One Health and EcoHealth, Conservation Medicine has a distinct emphasis:

• One Health focuses on collaborative efforts among human, animal, and environmental health professionals, often centered around zoonotic diseases and antimicrobial resistance.

• EcoHealth emphasizes community-based research and systems thinking, especially in low-resource settings.

• Conservation Medicine, however, explicitly prioritizes biodiversity conservation and ecosystem integrity as foundational to health.

It positions wildlife health and ecosystem resilience not as peripheral concerns, but as core strategies for disease surveillance and prevention, health protection, health promotion, and global health security.

21st Century: From Emerging Field to Global Imperative

The last two decades have seen Conservation Medicine evolve from an academic niche into a global necessity:

• The COVID-19 pandemic reignited urgency around zoonotic disease prevention and ecological disruption.

• Human-induced climate change is now recognized as a major health threat, with heatwaves, vector-borne diseases, and food insecurity on the rise.

• Global health agencies, including the World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Food and Agriculture Organization of UN, and the World Organization for Animal Health, have endorsed integrated approaches that reflect Conservation Medicine principles.

Institutions and governments are slowly beginning to adopt cross-sectoral frameworks that bridge biodiversity conservation and global health security—though gaps in funding, governance, and education remain.

The Future of Conservation Medicine

Conservation Medicine stands as a blueprint for the future of health—one that:

• Prioritizes proaction over reaction

• Centers wildlife and ecosystem health in public health strategies

• Advocates for equity and Indigenous leadership

• Builds resilience in the face of environmental and social upheaval

The work ahead requires not just scientific advancement, but cultural transformation—redefining what it means to be healthy and well in a world that is profoundly interconnected.

Conclusion

From its roots in traditional ecological knowledge to its formal emergence in the 1990s, Conservation Medicine has evolved in response to the growing recognition that human health is a function of our environment, not separate from it. As we face the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss, Conservation Medicine offers not just a scientific framework, but a moral imperative: to heal ourselves and all living things, we must protect the web of life in the natural world that sustains us.