Fig. 2.

Hypothetical ecological transition for a fictional population. In this schematic, the population moves from a state (a) in which people rely primarily on natural systems for health-related ecosystem services to a state (c) where they become reliant on engineered infrastructure and markets for these services while ecological systems get degraded over time. Over the course of this transition (b), there are numerous society-level mediating influences that are likely to change the differential vulnerabilities and health status of members of the population. These include equity of income distribution, type and strength of governance, philanthropic safety nets, characteristics of the natural environment etc. It is also likely that the health implications of such a transition will be different for different dimensions of health.