John Vidal writes in Ensia: “Destruction of habitat and loss of biodiversity are creating the perfect conditions for diseases like COVID-19 to emerge”:
“Increasingly, says Jones, these zoonotic diseases are linked to environmental change and human behavior. The disruption of pristine forests driven by logging, mining, road building through remote places, rapid urbanization and population growth is bringing people into closer contact with animal species they may never have been near before, she says.
The resulting transmission of disease from wildlife to humans, she says, is now “a hidden cost of human economic development. There are just so many more of us, in every environment. We are going into largely undisturbed places and being exposed more and more. We are creating habitats where viruses are transmitted more easily, and then we are surprised that we have new ones.”
Qui a ouvert la boîte de Pandore de la pandémie?
Translation in French: Leïla Martin.
¿Quién abrió la caja de Pandora de las pandemias?
Translation in Spanish: Diego Pavón Jordán.
