The COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect the world, not only on the health aspect but also economically. When the world was on lockdown, various businesses had stopped their operations, and even when it was lifted, a lot of people have already lost their jobs.
Scientists said that two new viruses a year had spilled over from animals to humans over the past decade. To prevent future outbreaks, they urge the world to protect wildlife and forests. Doing so would equate to just 2 percent of the estimated economic damage caused by the current pandemic.
They added that it is essential to crack down on the international wildlife trade and to destroy the forests. Both activities threaten wildlife and could put humans and their livestock in contact with wildlife that may bring viruses. However, researchers noted that these activities are currently underfunded.
The Cost of Preventing a Future Viral Outbreak
According to a recent analysis, spending about $260 billion for the next ten years--that's about 2 percent of the current economic damage by COVID-19--would significantly reduce the risks of another viral outbreak like the COVID-19 pandemic. Approximately, COVID-19 has already cost $11.5 trillion to the world economy.
Moreover, preventing another pandemic will not be the only benefit of spending on wildlife and forest protection because the efforts will also result in the decline of carbon dioxide emissions.
The scientists call out for better wildlife trade regulation, control and disease surveillance on the wild and domestic animals, the end of the wild meat trade in China, and reduce deforestation rate by 40 percent in crucial places.
According to scientists, there is a clear link between deforestation and the emergence of the virus. For example, forest bats that likely host viruses, such as Ebola and SARS-CoV-2. The forest is a "major launchpad" for new viruses infecting humans.
Prof. Andrew Dobson at Princeton University said that a pandemic such as the COVID-19 is most unlikely to happen once in a century. For that, it means investing in prevention may be the best insurance that the human health and global economy in the future is saved. The world would be able to stop a pandemic before it even begins.
This analysis was seconded by the UN's environment chief saying that acting now will save billions in future costs, and avoid the same suffering that the world is experiencing right now.
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Addressing the Destruction of the Environment to Prevent a Future Pandemic
This recent analysis is the latest plea from experts to the governments to address the destruction of the environment to prevent the next pandemic from happening. Earlier this month, the UN mentioned that the world was treating the health and economic effects of the pandemic but not its cause.
Over the past months, experts have called on for the protection of the environment. They said that the current pandemic is the SOS signal of nature, and unless it is protected, a similar event will happen in the future.
The researchers published their analysis on the journal Science. There, it was noted that environmental protection is underfunded, especially when some politicians would prefer that wildlife trade would continue its operations because of its high value.
"COVID-19 has shown us that human beings and our economic activity depend on the planet's ecological balance. If we continue to push against this delicate balance, we do so at our peril," said Akanksha Khatri, the head of the nature action agenda of the World Economic Forum.
READ MORE: Brazilian Amazon Deforestation Increased to 25%, Official Data Showed
