The increasing frequency of disease outbreaks around the world is linked to both climate change and biodiversity loss.
This was said by Jane Stout, professor in botany at Trinity College Dublin (TCD) and chair of Natural Capital Ireland, who told ‘Behind the Headlines: Climate Change and Pandemics’, an online discussion about what we can learn from the Covid-19 pandemic to address climate change.
Facilitated by the TCD Long Room Hub, it took place on Tuesday night last.
Even though other things have contributed to the rise in disease outbreaks, the links to climate change and biodiversity are the most striking, she said.
Biodiversity crisis
“Our destruction of nature, deforestation and removal of habitat has brought humans and wild animals into closer contact, resulting in zoonotic diseases, those that can be transmitted from other animals to humans, or those that normally exist in other animals, but can infect humans, like this novel coronavirus,” said Prof. Stout.
The bottom line, she contended, is that if we continue to destroy nature, we destroy our life support system and our ability to cope with what nature throws at us.
“Research has shown that high biodiversity reduces the risk of animal-vectored diseases in human populations.
“A global assessment of biodiversity found that three-quarters of the earth’s land surface and 66% of the marine is significantly altered by human activity, habitats are destroyed and degraded, and 1 million species are at risk of extinction.
People are starting to ‘get’ that not only do we have a climate crisis, but we have a biodiversity crisis too, and that the two are not only linked with each other, but both are linked with humanity’s health and well-being.
The World Economic Forum this year recognised that the linked climate change and biodiversity loss are some of the biggest risks, with the greatest potential impacts on world economies, Prof. Stout said. It also recognised infectious diseases as a top 10 risk.
Transformative change needed
“As part of the global assessment of biodiversity, a range of policy scenarios were tested to address negative trends in nature. The report concluded that these negative trends will continue to 2050 under all these policy scenarios, except transformative change.
“The world needs transformative change to address the biodiversity and climate crises,” Prof. Stout said.
“This transformative change includes: stronger international cooperation; correcting perverse incentive structures like incentivising the destruction of nature or extraction of fossil fuels for profit; applying a more holistic approach to decision-making; and strengthening implementation of laws and policies for improved human health and well-being,” she said.
“You could say that this pandemic has created transformative change: Unplanned but transformative all the same. This year was supposed to be super year for nature and biodiversity, with global conventions for climate and biodiversity-making targets to lead us into the next decades and centuries.
The decisions we make now about climate and biodiversity could potentially affect the future of humanity – we are at a point beyond which we won’t be able to make the necessary changes.
“Society can change and the way we live and work can change. People don’t have to be travelling all the time; there’s more remote working and more connection with nature in our free time, Prof. Stout said.
“Covid-19 also showed us that we don’t have the infrastructure to cope when we want to enjoy nature – national parks and urban green spaces quickly became overcrowded. So we need investment in nature, both for the sake of nature, and for what it gives to us, and for ourselves and our mental and physical well-being.”
The pandemic also showed that governments can implement socially unpopular policies in the interest of the public good, and at the detriment to the economy, Prof. Stout said.
“The speed at which everything changed to protect human health has been remarkable, showing that we can respond to a crisis when we need to.
Climate change and biodiversity loss are global crises that also threaten human health. We know they are happening. They also need urgent action, but we haven’t seen action happen yet.
“Perhaps it’s because in the case of the current closures and social restrictions, we can all see a time when it’s over, when we can go back to ‘normal’; whereas, with biodiversity loss and climate change, we need to make long-term changes. The idea of long-term changes is a bit more overwhelming,” Prof. Stout said.
“But after this pandemic is over, we will have to rebuild ourselves as a species, society, economy and we have an opportunity to do that in a new way where nature, and the benefits it provides for humanity, aren’t ignored, and where fossil fuels are left in the ground, so that we have a chance to respond to the climate crisis whilst we still can.
“We need to change our behaviour to tackle the biodiversity and climate crises, to ensure that food, resources, employment and health are provided in a sustainable way,” contended Prof. Stout.
“This pandemic may actually help us see what we need to, with families, communities and society coming together and we should build on that strength for a better future for nature and for people.”
A video of the full discussion can be seen on the Trinity Long Room Hub Facebook page.