Nature, wildlife and pandemics

While the world continues to grapple with the devastating consequences of Covid-19, WWF is calling for urgent global action to address the key drivers which will cause future zoonotic disease outbreaks. In its latest report: Covid-19: Urgent Call to Protect People and Nature, WWF states that people have increasingly encroached upon the natural world, resulting in escalating levels of contact between humans, livestock and wildlife. As a result, the frequency and number of new zoonotic diseases has risen drastically over the last century.

The increased emergence of zoonotic diseases is linked to two widespread anthropogenic causes:

Unsustainable food systems, large-scale conversion of land for agriculture and increasing interactions between wildlife, livestock and humans.

Trade and consumption of high-risk wildlife species and increasing human exposure to animal pathogens.

If the above causes are not adequately understood and addressed, the risk of a new zoonotic disease emerging in the future is higher than ever, with the potential to wreak even greater havoc on health, economies and global security.

Between December 2019 and May 2020, over 3,70,000 people died from Covid-19 related causes in more than 200 countries, which is just under three times the number of people killed by armed conflict and terrorism every year. The economic impact has been estimated at between US$2.4 and US$8.8 trillion in lost output. Almost half of the world’s workforce is at risk of losing their livelihoods, with the social and economic effects disproportionately affecting already marginalized groups, including women and indigenous communities.

According to the WWF, a four-point Plan of Action is urgently needed. It calls upon four sets of stakeholders, namely the government, the corporate sector, civil society organizations and the public to take a series of measures to address the situation:

All Governments should take the following steps-- halt the high-risk wildlife trade and increase enforcement to combat illicit wildlife trade; introduce and enforce legislation and policy actions to eliminate deforestation and conversion; provide adequate finance for the implementation of an ambitious post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework; commit to a new deal for nature and people, that puts nature on the path of recovery for the benefit of the planet and its inhabitants, with three goals: (1) protect and restore natural habitats; (2) safeguard the diversity of life; and (3) halve the footprint of production and consumption.

The corporate sector should do the following: Deliver credible action to decrease the environmental footprint of food supply chains, including promoting sustainable production, ensuring supplier traceability to points of origin, and encouraging consumers to make sustainable dietary choices; support policies and legislation that ensure all production and consumption of agricultural commodities are free from deforestation and conversion of natural ecosystems.

CSO should support vulnerable communities directly affecteCord by the crisis and its environmental drivers, ensuring that they are adequately represented in recovery efforts; work together with governments and industries to develop sustainable solutions that reduce illegal and high-risk wildlife exploitation and transform our food systems.

Finally, the public should engage with their government representatives to ensure that they commit to a new deal for nature and people, take action to protect natural ecosystems; pressurize industries to decrease their negative impacts on society and the environment; and shift their dietary and consumption habits to make more sustainable choices.

The Covid-19 crisis demonstrates that systemic changes must be made to address the environmental drivers of pandemics. Now is the time for transformative action to protect natural ecosystems in order to reduce the risk of future pandemics and move towards Nature- positive, carbon-neutral, sustainable and just societies.

(The writer taught Political Science at Bangalore University. He is currently Professor at the Karnataka State Rural Development and Panchayat Raj University, Gadag)