Corona and almost nothing else - that's how many people currently see everyday life.
That sucks your nerves.
However, times may be much worse.
Human-caused environmental damage can sometimes be irreparable.
As a result, animals also have to develop new habitats.
This has consequences for people - and they are extremely dangerous.
Munich - For months there has hardly been another topic worldwide than the
corona pandemic
*
.
Because the
Corona numbers
* are
currently reaching highs in many countries, there is hardly any end in sight.
The
displeasure
over the incessant Deal with the
coronavirus
*
grows in many people.
Professor Josef Settele is a
biologist
at the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research in Halle.
He believes that things can get much worse in the future.
“The
next pandemic
will come.
And if we are unlucky, it will be
even more serious and deadly than the COVID-19 wave *
, ”he writes at
focus.de
.
So are we complaining at a high level right now?
Coronavirus: biologist sees fatal environmental interaction - further pandemics possible
If you believe Settele, this is the case.
The
scientist
fears that
humans
have
expected too much
from
nature
.
The result is a "triple crisis".
"It is a fatal interplay between
climate change
,
extinction of species
and
zoonoses
, i.e.
infectious diseases
that are
transmitted
from
animal
to human (and vice versa) and can trigger pandemics," Settele explains his thesis.
These zoonoses are the origin of "often fatal diseases".
This includes
COVID-19
as well as malaria, AIDS or Ebola.
The Corona lockdown is currently slowing down many people's everyday lives.
Nature benefits greatly from this, as researchers recently found out.
Video: Habitat destruction increases risk of animal pathogens
Coronavirus: devastating interaction fuels viral diseases
According to the findings of the biologist Settele, climate change, extinction of species and zoonoses have a
devastating interaction
with one another
.
And
damage
to animals and the environment
caused by humans does the
rest.
“The more people penetrate and cannibalize nature that has been untouched by then, the more
viral diseases
will spread to them,” says Settele.
If animals lose their
habitat
, they relocate.
They often flee to
smaller territories
.
And live there more densely than before.
This increases the risk of the transmission of pathogens.
This means that humans must also expect an infection.
The adaptability of viruses increases the risk of infection from animals to humans.
Coronavirus: biologist warns - rise in temperature brings diseases
One reason for this is
warmer temperatures
.
"Climate change enables
mosquitoes, hornets and tick species
to settle in regions where they would not have survived the winter so far," says Settele.
"This is also how
diseases are brought
in."
#Climate change is not.
Therefore, even in the middle of November, after being cut off and winterized, the clematis partially fails again and is in full bloom.
But no, it is definitely not too warm.
Garnienich.
pic.twitter.com/CisCL1QSEd
- Fᵣₐᵤ Gᵣᵤₘₘₑₗdₐcₖₑₗ (@Grummeldackel) November 21, 2020
The
researchers
strongly urges the
world's population
, their
interaction with nature
to reconsider.
Otherwise, people face further pandemics.
“We can't go on as before,” says Settele.
"We humans
dig a pit
into which we threaten to
fall ourselves
."
(Kh)