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Ecological Intelligence

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Ecological Intelligence / Subject

One Health

Connections among wildlife, people, domestic animals and environmental health.

Institutional report

One Health — Biodiversity is moving closer to the center of formal health-policy discussions

Evidence
Institutional programme
Geography
Lisbon; international policy discussion
System
Biodiversity and health

WHAT THE EVIDENCE SAYS

Biodiversity is moving closer to the center of formal health-policy discussions. At the World One Health Congress in Lisbon, UNEP hosted a session specifically examining biodiversity action as a One Health intervention and chaired work on climate, environment and ecosystem health.

WHY IT MATTERS / OUR READ

Whether this becomes operational policy rather than conference language is worth monitoring.

CAVEATS / UNCERTAINTY

A programme demonstrates institutional attention, not evidence that a policy intervention has improved health or biodiversity.

SOURCE

UNEP · official One Health Congress programme
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At the World One Health Congress in Lisbon, UNEP hosted a session specifically examining biodiversity action as a One Health intervention and chaired work on climate, environment and ecosystem health. Whether this becomes operational policy rather than conference language is worth monitoring.

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Europe Peer-reviewed

Europe — Wildlife-disease control zones may need to follow movement ecology rather than administrative defaults

Geography
Europe
Evidence
Peer-reviewed modeling study
System
Wildlife disease / working landscapes

WHAT THE EVIDENCE SAYS

Wildlife-disease control zones may need to follow movement ecology rather than administrative defaults. Modeling of African swine fever and wild-boar movement suggests an 8 km infectious buffer can reduce dispersal risk, but highly heterogeneous or heavily human-modified landscapes may permit smaller zones while agricultural landscapes may require larger ones.

WHY IT MATTERS / OUR READ

Disease zoning is an ecological design problem. Movement and landscape structure can provide a stronger basis for buffer size than a uniform administrative boundary.

CAVEATS / UNCERTAINTY

These are movement-informed model estimates, not experimentally validated universal buffer distances. Local landscape conditions and outbreak dynamics still matter.

SOURCE

Journal of Applied Ecology · Wielgus et al. · 2026
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Modeling of African swine fever and wild-boar movement suggests an 8 km infectious buffer can reduce dispersal risk, but highly heterogeneous or heavily human-modified landscapes may permit smaller zones while agricultural landscapes may require larger ones.

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Peer-reviewed Africa Coastal

Mangroves and malaria are producing a much stranger relationship than the historical narrative suggests

Evidence
Peer-reviewed multi-country observational study
Geography
Coastal settlements in 27 African countries
System
Mangroves
Study scope
27 countries
Records
11 years of malaria prevalence records

WHAT THE EVIDENCE SAYS

Researchers combined 11 years of malaria prevalence records with satellite-derived mangrove, vegetation and weather data. Historically, mangroves were often treated as mosquito habitat and in some places cleared partly on that logic. The new analysis found a negative association between malaria prevalence and mangrove extent, while greater mangrove “greenness” could show a positive relationship depending on scale and analytical pathway.

WHY IT MATTERS / OUR READ

That apparent contradiction is the point. “Mangroves” are not one exposure variable. Forest extent, vegetation condition, hydrology, mosquito ecology, settlement patterns and scale can interact differently. This is a strong One Health warning against ecological interventions built on simple causal stories such as “wetland = mosquitoes = disease.”

CAVEATS / UNCERTAINTY

The authors are analyzing associations, not proving that conserving mangroves reduces malaria. Confounding human and environmental variables remain possible.

SOURCE

Global Change Biology · Original evidence
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The new analysis found a negative association between malaria prevalence and mangrove extent, while greater mangrove “greenness” could show a positive relationship depending on scale and analytical pathway.

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