Pandemics like Corona could increase, spread faster and become even more dangerous.
This is what the World Biodiversity Council reports.
But they have a counter-strategy.
The Biodiversity Council (IPBES) warns of new
pandemics
in a current report
.
Nature conservation
is an effective tool in the fight against infectious diseases
.
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regarding the corona pandemic *
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Bonn - The first sentences of the current report of the Biodiversity Council (IPBES) are tough: "Without preventive measures,
pandemics
occur
more frequently, spread faster, kill more people and affect the global economy with more devastating effects than ever before."
According to the experts, what sounds like a horror scenario could become reality.
They see a fatal connection between
environmental degradation
and the outbreak of
pandemics
.
The scientists received the order from around 130 governments.
The report appears at a time when Germany is currently struggling with the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic *.
Is Corona just the beginning?
Age of Pandemics: Scientists With Terrifying Report
The 22 international scientists agree in their report: In the future, pathogens will jump from
wild animals
to humans
more frequently
.
The reason for this is that humans are penetrating more and more remote areas that are inhabited by wild animals.
Trade in these is also increasing.
All of this brings humans and animals closer together.
And increase the risk of an
infectious disease
- and ultimately, as in the case of
Corona
- a
pandemic
.
Surname | Biodiversity Council (IPBES) |
task | Advice on biodiversity and ecosystem services |
founding | 2012, based in Bonn |
Members | 132 countries including Germany |
Corona: pangolins under suspicion - animal hosts as a risk for humans
According to the scientists, 70 percent of diseases develop in this way.
These include
Ebola
,
Zika
,
AIDS
- and of course the
coronavirus
.
Because even if the origin of the new virus has not yet been settled, are
pangolins
as the origin host under suspicion.
These diseases are also called
zoonoses
and are caused by microbes of animal origin.
“Transmission can occur through direct contact, via vectors such as ticks and mosquitoes, but also via milk, eggs, meat or other foods.
(...) Due to factors such as rapid population growth, increasing mobility, changes in animal breeding and husbandry, as well as climate changes, zoonoses are becoming more and more important, ”says the website of the National Research Platform for Zoonoses.
Back in July, two scientists issued a worrying forecast.
"
Covid-19
is at least the sixth global health pandemic since the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918," the report said.
What is meant is the
Spanish flu
, which claimed 20 to 50 million deaths by 1920.
According to the analysis, the risk factors that lead to such outbreaks are as follows:
Expansion and intensification of land use, such as clearing the rainforest.
Wildlife Trade and Consumption.
Unsustainable production.
Pandemics: Five more diseases every year
"The same human activities that
drive
climate change
and biodiversity loss also create a pandemic risk through their impact on our environment," says Dr.
Peter Daszak, President of the
EcoHealth Alliance
and head of the IPBES working group that prepared the report, which was published on October 29th.
The frightening thing about the findings is that around five more
diseases
appear
every year
that - at least in theory -
could
develop into a
pandemic
.
According to the scientists, there are an estimated 1.7 million undiscovered
viruses
in animals
.
And at least half of them are potentially a threat to humans.
This means
that people can become infected
with up to 850,000
viruses
.
“Make no mistake, the Covid-19 crisis ... biodiversity loss & climate change are one big crisis - the greatest that humans have ever faced.
But this report is a document of hope, not despair… the question is not can we [act], but will we? ”@ Realdocspicer https://t.co/3nYQ8t6XZA
- Peter Daszak (@PeterDaszak) October 29, 2020
After Corona: "Era of Pandemics" - prevention as a means against infectious diseases
But the report also gives hope, because there is a method to counteract this development:
nature conservation.
The central demand of the Biodiversity Council is to
focus more on prevention
in the fight against
pandemics
.
Nature must be better protected and the
wildlife trade
curbed.
Instead of bringing diseases under control after they have already broken out - for example with
vaccines *
- Dr.
Daszak said: "We can
escape
the era of
pandemics
, but that requires a much stronger focus on
prevention
alongside response
."
The analysis is aimed specifically at politics and lists possible courses of action, including:
Establishment of an international council to
combat pandemics
Changes in consumption and production behavior that lead to the outbreak of
pandemics
, for example through taxes on meat
Education about health risks in areas with wildlife that pose a high risk
Combating illegal wildlife trafficking
After Corona: Nature conservation in the fight against pandemics - costs lower through prevention
The benefit of such an approach would also be reflected in the numbers.
The cost of
prevention
would be 100 times lower
than that of measures after an outbreak of disease.
In the summer, the cost of the
corona pandemic was
estimated at $ 8 to $ 16 trillion, according to the report.
In the
US
alone,
it could cost 16 trillion by the end of 2021.
But, as the experts summarize: "Above all, it offers a vision of our future in which we have escaped the current" pandemic era "."
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