Biodiversity loss a perfect storm for new pandemics
It is believed that, throughout our evolutionary process, human beings at some point live in harmony with nature, however, if this really happened, it is intuitive that probably something happened in our genetic coding that greatly changed our behaviors, since our current lifestyles, only encourage increasing levels of pollution, where practices of extermination of ecosystems prevail.
Basically we are the promoters of hostile scenarios, which undermine the right to life of other species, and with it an accelerated loss of biodiversity on a global scale, an element that has meant the main reason for transmission of the main diseases suffered by animals to humans, an aspect that is also related to the emergence of new pandemics, whose deadly effects will be ever greater, and the impacts will afflict the planet in an uncontrollable way at catastrophic levels.
Therefore, in this issue I wanted to share with the members of the @ecoTrain community these brief lines of reflective cut, because the records reported by experts in conservation and climate change, indicate that conditions are being created for the "perfect storm", that will disperse the overflow of deadly wildlife diseases to people, as a result of rampant deforestation, expansion and uncontrolled establishment of agricultural systems, livestock, mining activity, and by the exploitation of wild animals as sources of exotic food.
Fig. 2 Major cities, due to excessive pollution, are constantly affected by storms, cyclones, and acid rain. Image of public domain, Author: TheDigital, 2017
The expert in ecology and conservation, Dr. Stuart Pimm, professor at Duke University, says that almost a third of all pandemics have originated through the damage that ecosystems have suffered, so according to his research an estimated five to six new pandemics could arise in the coming years, which would significantly reduce the population on earth.
Fig. 3 Large areas of forest are lost daily as a result of forest fires caused by human activities. Image of public domain, Author: Free-Photos, 2015
According to statements by Pimm, in the case of Covid-19 "the world has cost the world billions of dollars and the death of almost a million people, so, clearly urgent action is needed", to stop the widespread destruction of vegetation and wildlife, because of its relation with the consequent appearance of innumerable species of virus and bacteria, since, these new metabolism microorganisms unknown for science, will infect us irremediably generating with it new emergent diseases of deadly action.
Fig. 4 A large part of the planet suffers from desertification problems, an aspect that generates the loss of fertile and productive soil in countries that previously had forested areas. Image of public domain, Author: Mediamodifier, 2017
The alarming context is that the accelerated loss of biodiversity, equivalently increases the interface between wild specimens, with domesticated specimens in farming systems, for example; bats, rodents and other surviving pests that come from affected forests, are known to carry foreign viruses that then move to production units, and infect animals and cultivated plant species, which after being harvested and processed into food are a source of infections that affect our health and are causing increasing numbers of deaths.
Fig. 5 The accelerated loss of biological diversity not only generates problems at the ecosystem level, but also air pollution. Image of public domain, Author: Mysticsartdesign, 2014
Because of the above, it is extremely important to be aware, as the numbers are against us and the emergence of new pathogenic microorganisms is an inevitable issue, if we continue with our predatory lifestyle.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES CONSULTED:
[1] Tellería J. Loss of biodiversity: causes and consequences of the species loss. Memorias R. Soc. Esp. Hist. Nat. 2013; 2: 10. Article: Online access
[2] Stuart P. The Future of Biodiversity. Science. 1995; 269; 5222: 347-50. Article: Online access
[3] Grant M., Clinton N., and Stuart P. Refining Biodiversity Conservation Priorities. Conservation Biology. 2005; 19; 6. Article: Online access
[4] Robin M. Rampant destruction of forests ‘will unleash more pandemics’. Topics – Environment. The Observer Online access
[5] Franco L., Useche D., and Hernández S. Biodiversity and Anthropic Climate Change: Main Themes to Guide the Production of Knowledge for the Handling of the Phenomenon. Ambiente y Desarrollo.2013; 17; 32: 79-96. Article: Online access
0
0
0.000
https://twitter.com/lupafilotaxia/status/1309705165570740225
#Posh Twitter:
https://twitter.com/lupafilotaxia/status/1309705165570740225
I didn't know about the @HiveLift initiative, I like the idea of promoting our HIVE platform, making use of Twitter.
This post has been submitted to the OCD community curation initiative for some great upvotes! OCD are currently supporting posts in HIVE communities! Congrats and keep posting great content!
We are very grateful for the support that @ecoTrain gave to the content published in this issue. I hope to continue uploading manuscripts that the community will like. Thanks again for the support, we will not continue reading.
I can sooo relate to what you wrote, @lupafilotaxia! This summer I was staying / working with a lady who is an epidemiologist, an environmental advocate, and an artist. We talked about many things, from industrialism to natural environments, and of course Covid. She said, that she was actually surprised this kind of pandemic didn't happen sooner, and she is convinced it's just going to accelerate. And no, it doesn't matter if it's a more potent mutated form of Covid, or if it's something completely new. By our industrialized behavior we're basically asking for it.
Based on the current context, and the objective warnings that have been made in advance by the scientific community expert in the deterioration of wild ecosystems, it would be a mistake not to act in a balanced way but with real measures, because if we continue to act with publicity measures, the effects will be of greater mortality, because we will inevitably have new pandemic outbreaks, so from now on the key will be to reduce the environmental impacts, and to generate in a sustained way certain balances that will guarantee to soften these outbreaks, and I say soften because they will still appear in the following years, because the damage is already done.
Sincerely @stortebeker, and thanks for your visit to the blog.
Oh no...! I mean, as I was reading your reply, the thought forming in my mind was Good luck with that! And yes, I feel terrible having to admit it, but I'm completely full of doubts. Everyone is going to try to reap whatever they can from the new conditions due to the pandemic, but to reduce environmental impacts is quite low on the priority list, as far as I can see. Sorry, I didn't mean to be fatalistically pessimistic.
It is true that reducing environmental impacts is not an immediate priority; however, it is necessary to take corrective measures in order to generate conditions that allow us to reduce the impacts. You are not being fatalistic, you are simply seeing things as they will indeed be in the coming months and years.
https://twitter.com/BGMadrid/status/1310779269254189056
https://twitter.com/BGMadrid/status/1310779269254189056?s=20