Climate&Environment: Pandemics and Deforestation

If wild habitats were left intact, viruses are less likely to be potent enough to kill humans.

Ebola, SARS were some of the highly infectious diseases which have been alarming the world since 2002. Now, 2020, the SARS-CoV-2 stands as the new disease which have jumped to humans from the wild animals.

Jumping Viruses

“Three quarters of the emerging pathogens that infect humans leaped from humans from animals, many of them creatures in the forest habitats that we are slashing and burning to create land for crops, including bio-fuel plants, and for mining and housing.” -Editors of Scientific American

As the natural habitats are more often slashed down, it is more often that we come into close contact with the wildlife carrying microbes which have potency to kill us. The more these creatures get concentrated by the elimination of the natural habitat, the more swapping of infectious microbes happen. This raises the chances of the formation of new strains of deadly diseases. Theses factors lead to the spillover of pathogens from animals to people.

Stopping Deforestation

#LetsStopDeforestation Stopping deforestation is usually though of as a method to prevent and reduce exposure to new disasters. However, this is what can potentially tamper down the speed of how diseases spread. Many vicious diseases have come from the wild, which includes Zika, Nipah, Malaria, Cholera, and HIV. Among these deadly disease a study done in 2019 found that 10% increase of deforestation leads to 3.3% increase in Malaria. Despite global outcries, deforestation runs rampant, and an average of 28 million hectares of forests have been cut down since 2016, as there were no signs of slowdowns.

So How Should Society Respond?

“The forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people” -Franklin D. Roosevelt

Societies are able to prevent the destruction of forests by eating less meat. Eating less meat will improve our health, and also lessen the demand for crops and grasslands. Palm oils, which are needed in order for processed foods to be consumed, are also a big stock of bio-fuels. Not only that slowing down population growth greatly helps increase stability. This is only possible if women are given better education and equal social status with men, or are given better contraceptives.

Implementation of Solutions

Possible solutions include the production of more food per hectare, so supply can be boosted without the need to encroach more land. Developing resistant crops will greatly help, as climate change will bring longer and deeper droughts. Reducing food waste also helps lessen the pressure of growing more, because 30 to 40 percent of the food production is thrown away. It is also important for epidemiologists to identify and inspect these diseases earlier, and track how these diseases have been circulating around monkeys, bats, pangolins, badgers, and rodents. This surveillance should be well funded and widespread. Governments should refrain from allowing the sale of wild animals, and also need to crackdown animal trade that is illegal. Pandemic solutions are very important sustainability solutions.