Medical and Hospital News
EPIDEMICS
Covid lessons learned? UN summit mulls plan for healthy planet, and humans
Covid lessons learned? UN summit mulls plan for healthy planet, and humans
By Laurent ABADIE
Cali, Colombia (AFP) Oct 25, 2024

The Covid-19 and Ebola outbreaks brought into stark relief the harms that can come to humans if we interfere too much with nature, placing ourselves in contact with animals carrying unknown pathogens.

At the COP16 biodiversity summit in Cali, Colombia, experts and activists have urged world leaders world to learn the lessons from the estimated seven million lives lost to Covid, and thousands more due to Ebola.

It is up to governments to act, and there is no time to waste.

The IPBES intergovernmental science and policy body on biodiversity has already warned that "future pandemics will emerge more often, spread more rapidly, do more damage to the world economy and kill more people than Covid-19" unless humankind changes course.

At the UN summit in Cali, delegates are working on a "biodiversity and health action plan" proposed for adoption by the 196 member nations of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

It includes commitments to limit harmful agriculture and forestry, reduce the use of pesticides, fertilizers and other chemicals damaging to nature, and reduce the use of antibiotics in farm animals.

The plan is voluntary, however, and parties remain stuck on a few details.

Agreement, WWF wildlife policy manager Colman O'Criodain told AFP, "may be at the expense of watered down language on some issues, such as intensive agriculture and use of antimicrobials" -- which affect biotech and agribusiness, both big money-spinners.

For Sue Lieberman, vice president of the Wildlife Conservation Society pushing for the plan's adoption, "we need to change our relationship with nature if we want to prevent more epidemics and pandemics."

- 'When, not if' -

So-called zoonotic diseases spread between animals and people, as can happen when humans encroach into formerly virgin forests, or transport and trade wild animals for their meat.

Covid-19, for example, is believed by many scientists to have emerged at the Wuhan wet market in China, where wild animal meat was illegally sold for consumption.

Ebola, an often fatal hemorrhagic fever that has killed some 15,000 people in Africa, is believed to have its natural host in a bat, which can spread the virus to humans directly or via other animals.

"Deforestation, intensive agriculture, wildlife trade and exploitation are the primary drivers of biodiversity loss and zoonotic disease," Adeline Lerambert of the Born Free wildlife NGO told AFP.

WWF's O'Criodain added: "The further humans and their livestock penetrate into what were intact, undisturbed areas of high biodiversity, the more likely they are to encounter new strains of viruses, especially because viruses are constantly mutating."

The 2020 IPBES report had called for a "transformative change in the global approach to dealing with infectious diseases."

"Covid-19 is at least the sixth global health pandemic since the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918, and although it has its origins in microbes carried by animals, like all pandemics its emergence has been entirely driven by human activities," it said.

The report estimated that some 1.7 million currently "undiscovered" viruses exist in mammals and birds -- of which up to 827,000 could have the ability to infect people.

As measures to prevent "the spillover of new diseases," the IPBES advocates for expanding protection of natural areas and reducing the unsustainable exploitation of resources.

Will the COP16 action plan be up to the task?

For Lieberman of the Wildlife Conservation Society, it is not ideal that the plan is voluntary, meaning "there's no consequences if a government says: 'never mind, we'll ignore it.' It's up to each country".

But she is hopeful that fear of a repeat of Covid-19 will inspire action nevertheless.

"If nothing is done, if nothing changes, there will be another pandemic. The question is when, not if," Lieberman warned.

Related Links
Epidemics on Earth - Bird Flu, HIV/AIDS, Ebola

Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters
Tweet

RELATED CONTENT
The following news reports may link to other Space Media Network websites.
EPIDEMICS
WHO launches plan to rein in 'alarming' dengue spread
Geneva (AFP) Oct 3, 2024
The World Health Organization announced Thursday a global plan to battle dengue and other diseases carried by mosquitos as they spread faster and further amid climate change. "The rapid spread of dengue and other arboviral diseases in recent years is an alarming trend that demands a coordinated response across sectors and across borders," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement. The UN health agency said the number of reported dengue cases has approximately doubled each year sin ... read more

EPIDEMICS
'Peace among ourselves' crucial to save nature: UN chief

Climate change driving 'record threats to health': report

Senegal navy intercepts nearly 600 migrants in 10 days

Xi tells BRICS summit world facing 'serious challenges'

EPIDEMICS
GMV GSharp leads globally in precise GNSS corrections

LEO satellites hold the key to resilient, interference-free navigation

China launches two more satellites for Beidou navigation system

SpaceX launches European Galileo satellites to medium Earth orbit

EPIDEMICS
Colombia's Awa people resist violence, maintain 'spiritual bond' with nature

A SMART method to enhance effectiveness of cartilage repair therapy

Artificial intelligence forms external cognitive system, reshaping human thought processes

Why humans love carbs: A genetic trait that predates agriculture

EPIDEMICS
Solar energy integration in animal cells achieved by Japanese scientists

How Mammals Developed Their Upright Posture

COP16 chair hails biodiversity attaining 'equal footing' with climate crisis

Funding hurdle at world's biggest nature protection summit

EPIDEMICS
Covid lessons learned? UN summit mulls plan for healthy planet, and humans

WHO launches plan to rein in 'alarming' dengue spread

New study reinforces theory Covid emerged at Chinese market

'Virus hunters' track threats to head off next pandemic

EPIDEMICS
China's Myanmar consulate hit with explosive device: Junta chief to visit China next month

China to almost double support for unfinished housing projects

Myanmar junta chief to travel to China next month: sources close to military

Hong Kong to eliminate 'shoebox' flats, cut spirits tax: leader

EPIDEMICS
El Salvador troops target gangs in large-scale operation

Hungary's Orban says corks will pop if Trump wins US election

Pay up or move out: Drug gangs rob Ecuadorans of homes

EPIDEMICS
Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.