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Vulnerable ecosystems-• Sea?level rise • Increasing temperatures • Changes in rainfall • Ocean acidification • Coral reefs • Increased storm activity Overall in Melanesia the central mountains of New Guinea and the coral reefs and ocean life in the outer islands of Papua New Guinea most impacted. In the wider Pacific inundation is a major threat.

This is the seventh volume in a WWF series of reports developed as part of the Arguments for Protection project, which aims to identify and where possible quantify the range of benefits derived from protected areas, increase support for protection, develop new interdisciplinary partnerships, identify innovative financing mechanisms and broaden and strengthen protected area management strategies. In this case we focus on the positive benefits that can be provided by protected areas for human health. Our understanding of the term ‘human health’ in this context is based on the definition of the World Health Organization (WHO): “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”.

This is the fifth volume in the WWF series of reports developed as part of the Arguments for Protection project which is assembling evidence on the social and economic benefits of protected areas to widen and strengthen support for park creation and management. In this volume we explore the increasing number and severity of so-called natural disasters, review how environmental degradation is contributing to this trend, look at how conservation through protection is currently mitigating the impacts of hazards and disasters and discuss the options for further developing the role of protected areas in disaster prevention and mitigation strategies.

Well managed natural forests almost always provide higher quality water, with less sediment and fewer pollutants, than water from other catchments Some natural forests (particularly tropical montane cloud forests and some older forests) also increase total water flow, although in other cases this is not true and under young forests and some exotic plantations net water flow can decrease Impacts of forests on security of supply or mitigating flooding are less certain although forests can reduce floods at a local headwater scale As a result of these various benefits, natural forests are being protected to maintain high quality water supplies to cities Protection within watersheds also provides benefits in terms of biodiversity conservation, recreational, social and economic values However, care is needed to ensure that the rural populations living in watersheds are not disadvantaged in the process of protection or management for water quality