Demographic shifts and increased demand for food, animal products, biofuel, and even cosmetics continue to drive the destruction of ecosystems and their services. This extractive activity leads to negative environmental and human health impacts including:

• Substantial reduction of biological diversity
• Increased local air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from land clearing by burning, which is particularly problematic in tropical and subtropical regions where oil palm cultivation is rapidly increasing
• Soil degradation, which reduces soil ecosystem services such as carbon storage, and increases the risk of desertification
• Nitrogen and phosphorus deposition from agricultural field runoff
• Decreased water quality and quantity
• Increased exposure to water-borne, zoonotic, and vector-borne diseases

The complex interactions between changes in land use, land cover, ecosystem services, and the attendant impacts on human health require longitudinal study across geographic regions in addition to urgent action to re-wild and restore many of the planet’s natural habitats.