Biodiversity at School Environments Benefits for all

In our rapidly urbanizing world, chronic health conditions associated with urban living are on the rise. One of the main current challenges is unravelling the role of reduced access to and reduced quality and quantity of nature and biodiversity in these living environments. Enhanced immune functioning emerges as one promising candidate for a central pathway between nature and health. Despite mounting evidence that people with a diverse microbiome or who interact with green spaces enjoy better health, studies have yet to directly examine how biodiverse urban green spaces might modify the human microbiome and reduce chronic disease. Another challenge is to enhance access to nature for all, which is unevenly distributed among social groups with different socio-economic and cultural backgrounds. In this project, the environmental microbiome, defined as the microbes in soil, on plants, and associated with air dust, will be targeted, as well as its social distribution. B@SEBALL will investigate how biodiversity in the school/playground environment can positively affect children’s health (asthma and allergy prevalence) and mental well-being and how this can be linked to human microbiome diversity. B@SEBALL will also investigate the opportunities for reducing health inequalities among children via biodiversity at school environments. Further, B@SEBALL will investigate how school/playground management and design can benefit from this knowledge, as well as relevant policy, education and family practices. Through its partners, B@SEBALL can build on established school projects aimed at greening playgrounds: Flanders (MOS) and Wallonia & Brussels (GoodPlanet Belgium).