THE PATH TO OUR NEXT PANDEMIC (22 April 2020)
Alert: Humanity is in big trouble—and we’re blazing full speed toward even more peril. Because of our burgeoning numbers, globalized nature, and habit of exploiting countless wildlife species for food and traditional remedies, we’ve become perilously vulnerable to new pathogens—especially those that jump from animals to humans.
RAPID DEFORESTATION OF BRAZILIAN AMAZON COULD BRING NEXT PANDEMIC: EXPERTS (15 April 2020)
Mongabay: Since it arrived in Brazil, COVID-19 has divided the nation. One side calls for strict social isolation measures to contain the virus, while the other says that everyone should get back to work now, except for the elderly and most vulnerable.
CORONAVIRUS: EXPLOITING NATURE ‘DRIVES OUTBREAKS OF NEW DISEASES’ (8 April 2020)
BBC News: Close contact with wild animals through hunting, trade or habitat loss puts the world at increased risk of outbreaks of new diseases, say scientists. Coronavirus is thought to have originated in bats, with other wild animals, possibly pangolins, playing a role in transmission to humans. There are strong indications of a wildlife source and a link to trade.
WANT TO STOP THE NEXT PANDEMIC? START PROTECTING WILDLIFE HABITATS (8 April 2020)
Time: There are four critical facets of pandemic prevention, according to Lee Hannah, senior scientist at Conservation International. Three of them make immediate sense against the backdrop of our current emergency: stockpile masks and respirators; have testing infrastructure ready; and ban the global wildlife trade, including the open animal markets where COVID-19 may have first infected people.
‘TIP OF THE ICEBERG’: IS OUR DESTRUCTION OF NATURE RESPONSIBLE FOR COVID-19? (18 March 2020)
The Guardian: Mayibout 2 is not a healthy place. The 150 or so people who live in the village, which sits on the south bank of the Ivindo River, deep in the great Minkebe Forest in northern Gabon, are used to occasional bouts of diseases such as malaria, dengue, yellow fever and sleeping sickness. Mostly they shrug them off.
