The Covid-19 pandemic shook the world in ways one never imagined. From a global health crisis to crippled economies - the pandemic resulted in a paradigm shift in society’s functioning and thinking. Out of the many lessons learnt, one of the most signifi cant ones was that humans are not superior to nature, no matter what. Although Covid-19, scientifi cally named SARS-CoV-2, is not the fi rst zoonotic that aff ected humans - it has defi nitely caused widescale health crises of a level previously witnessed during the 1918 Spanish Flu. Zika, Ebola and Infl uenza are other examples of zoonotic diseases - which have been transmitted to humans from animals. Also known as spillovers, such diseases are gaining prevalence at an alarming rate — and experts state that there is more to come. According to the Pulitzer Center, animal-borne diseases currently make for approximately 2.4 billion cases of human illness annually, with 2.2 million deaths. While these fi gures are unsettling, these might only be the tip of the iceberg. Humans are in danger of experiencing pandemics at a much larger scale, but are the ones responsible for it. The most pivotal drivers of pandemics have become human encroachment — unsustainable wildlife trade, wildlife exploitation, deforestation and climate change, the list continues. While humans are interconnected with the environment, nature has its own mechanisms to prevent spillovers from occurring. Due to human encroachment on nature, there is increased proximity between humans and wildlife, opening up a pandora’s box of new diseases. Experts say that there are currently 1.7 million viruses on the planet that are yet undiscovered, out of which 850,000 can infect humans. 3 in 4 of the newly discovered diseases are zoonotic, which is a cause for alarm. And each time a forest is cleared for agriculture, waste is generated in enormous amounts, a wet market vendor captures an ‘exotic’ animal to sell, we are inching closer to a more dangerous pandemic. The solution to this danger is easier said than done — for it would require the implementation of strict, large- scale measures to prevent human encroachment on nature. Conserving nature to prevent human-wildlife interaction entails a dramatic change in the world’s food and consum- erism habits. A drastic change like this will be far from easy or cheap, but it is the need of the hour. A report from Brookings explains that governments have the authority to shape policies and measures to ensure the sustainability of nature, while society has to change its habits. Change is not easy, neither is a pandemic. As the world grapples with Covid-19 and the daunting eff ects of climate change, everybody is aware of what needs to be done. It is all a matter of when the change takes place, will it be implemented in the nick of time? Or will we be too late?
10 Jan 2022
Krishna Barot
