An Ecosystem Conservation Approach for Northern Alpine Wetlands

Abstract

To ascertain the importance of wetland conservation and management practices in improving human health associated with water pollution, the paper studies the impact of Saving Wetlands Sky High, a wetland conservation project in northern alpine, on the health of local communities. The study examined the impact of the ecosystem conservation approach on the prevalence and associated health cost of diarrhea and typhoid in communities depending on these wetlands. The analysis is based on the difference between prevalence of diarrhea and typhoid and related average health cost per year in the communities that benefit from this project and communities, which rely on non-protected or non-conserved wetlands for water supply. The difference in disease prevalence and related health cost of both types of communities are taken as indicators of positive or negative impact of wetland conservation activities. Identification of the impact on human health involved measuring the difference in prevalence of diarrhea and typhoid and related health cost for the treatment group, the community that benefited from the conservation project with the control group, the community depending on non-conserved wetland. Assuming that socio-economic and geographic determinants of health are constant, the treatment group has been observed to have lower prevalence of water borne diseases. This provided lower related health costs for the treatment group ranging from about $4 to $223 per year unlike the control group which ranged from about $11 to $740.
DOI: 10.17762/ijritcc2321-8169.160455