Land Use Change and Infectious Disease Emergence

Abstract

Major infectious diseases threatening human health are transmitted to people from animals or by arthropod vectors such as insects. In recent decades, disease outbreaks have become more common, especially in tropical regions, including new and emerging infections that were previously undetected or unknown. Even though there is growing awareness that altering natural habitats can lead to disease outbreaks, the link between land use change and emerging diseases is still often overlooked and poorly understood. Land use change typically destroys natural habitat and alters landscape composition and configuration, thus altering wildlife population dynamics, including those of pathogen hosts, domesticated (often intermediary) hosts, infectious agents, and their vectors. Moreover, land use changes provide opportunities for human exposure to direct contact with wildlife, livestock, and disease-carrying vectors, thereby increasing pathogen spillover from animals to humans. Here we explore the nexus between human health and land use change, highlighting multiple pathways linking emerging disease outbreaks and deforestation, forest fragmentation, urbanization, agricultural expansion, intensified farming systems, and concentrated livestock production. We connect direct and underlying drivers of land use change to human health outcomes related to infectious disease emergence. Despite growing evidence of land-use induced spillover, strategies to reduce the risks of emerging diseases are often absent from discussions on sustainable food systems and land management. A “One Health” perspective—integrating human, animal, and environmental health—provides a critical yet often-overlooked dimension for understanding the health impacts of land use change.