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Reuters
Bats were probably the source of the current coronavirus pandemic, according to epidemiologists
UN experts warned that zoonotic diseases, which jump from animals to humans, are on the rise and will continue to do so without measures to protect wildlife and preserve the environment.
They blame the rise in diseases like Covid-19 on high demand for animal protein, unsustainable farming practices, and climate change.
They say that neglected zoonotic diseases kill two million people a year.
Covid-19 will cost the global economy $ 9 trillion (£ 7.2 trillion) over two years.
- Why do we spread more animal diseases?
Ebola, West Nile virus and Sars are also zoonotic diseases: they started in animals and made the jump to humans.
What did the report say?
But that jump is not automatic. It is driven, according to the report of the United Nations Environment Program and the International Livestock Research Institute, by the degradation of our natural environment, for example, through land degradation, the exploitation of wildlife , resource extraction and climate change. This alters the way that animals and humans interact.
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AFP
A lone man and a cow are seen by a submerged house after a dam collapse in Minas Gerais, Brazil. Photo: January 2019
“In the past century, we have seen at least six major outbreaks of new coronaviruses,” said Inger Andersen, deputy secretary-general and executive director of the UN Environment Program.
“In the past two decades and before Covid-19, zoonotic diseases caused economic damage of $ 100 billion (£ 80 billion).”
She said that “two million people in low- and middle-income countries die each year from neglected endemic zoonotic diseases such as anthrax, bovine tuberculosis and rabies.”
“Often these are communities with complex development problems, high dependence on livestock, and proximity to wildlife.”
Meat production, for example, has increased 260% in the past 50 years, Andersen said.
“We have intensified agriculture, expanded infrastructure and extracted resources at the expense of our wilderness,” he explained.
“Dams, irrigation, and factory farms are linked to 25% of infectious diseases in humans. Travel, transportation, and food supply chains have erased borders and distances. Climate change has contributed to the spread of pathogens. “
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The report offers government strategies on how to prevent future outbreaks, such as encouraging sustainable land management, improving biodiversity and investing in scientific research.
“The science is clear that if we continue to exploit wildlife and destroy our ecosystems, then we can expect to see a constant flow of these diseases leaping from animals to humans in the years to come,” Andersen said.
“To avoid future outbreaks, we must be much more deliberate about protecting our natural environment.”
