Earth observation for public health: Biodiversity change and emerging disease surveillance

One Health is an emerging concept in the health sciences that approaches human, animal and environmental health from a single framework. This policy approach is grounded in the knowledge that approximately 70 percent of emerging diseases in humans originate from other species, and that this species crossover is precipitated by stresses to environmental systems such as habitat change and biodiversity loss. Remote sensing tools apply well to this approach due to the multitude of variables that can be measured across borders in real-time. This paper explores the challenges and opportunities of using satellite remote sensing to monitor biodiversity loss in real time, with a goal of predictive surveillance for emerging disease events. Key findings include that (1) certain emerging disease events are preceded by biodiversity changes that can be observed from space; (2) refining quantitative assessments of biodiversity loss is a critical next step; and (3) biodiversity loss as observed from space merits inclusion in emerging disease surveillance programs as a complement to in situ and epidemiological surveillance data.