Geotherapy is the metaphor that earth's Biophysical environmental problems, like global warming, can be soundly diagnosed and corrected, in much the same way that a medical doctor diagnoses and heals a human body by restoring imbalances in a patient's health.[1] Geotherapy refers to the process of restoring the earth's health by strengthening natural biogeochemical and physiological mechanisms that regulate the earth's planetary life support systems and control global temperature, sea level, atmospheric composition, soil fertility, food, and fresh water supplies.[2][3] Geotherapy views human health and quality of life as a part of, and hence dependent on, the ecosystem services provided by healthy biomes. It also recognizes the urgent need to regenerate the earth's severely damaged ecosystem services for a sustainable future.[4]
Geotherapy should not be confused with geoengineering. Geotherapy regenerates natural life support mechanisms, while Geoengineering aims to replace them with technological solutions.[5] To avoid confusion between antithetic concepts, Geotherapy, sometimes also called BioGeoTherapy[by whom?] to specifically highlight its focus on the regeneration of natural biological mechanisms, is in direct contrast to hard engineering solutions. [citation needed]