Will we ever learn how interconnected we are?
Will we ever learn how interconnected we are?
As people push further into wildlife habitats, they threaten biodiversity and increase the chance of future pandemics.
Will we ever learn how interconnected we are?
As people push further into wildlife habitats, they threaten biodiversity and increase the chance of future pandemics.
Over the next 50 years, people will push further into wildlife habitats across more than half the land on Earth, scientists have found, threatening biodiversity and increasing the chance of future pandemics.
Over the next 50 years, people will push further into wildlife habitats across more than half the land on Earth, scientists have found, threatening biodiversity and increasing the chance of future pandemics.
Humans have already transformed or occupied between 70% and 75% of the world’s land. Research published in Science Advances on Wednesday found the overlap between human and wildlife populations is expected to increase across 57% of the Earth’s land by 2070, driven by human population growth.
Biodiversity loss is the leading driver of infectious disease outbreaks. About 75% of emerging diseases in humans are zoonotic, meaning they can be passed from animals to humans, and many diseases concerning global health authorities – including Covid-19, mpox, avian flu and swine flu – likely originated in wildlife. Understanding where people and wildlife will overlap is key to preventing “the acceleration of viral spillover from wildlife”, said Kim Gruetzmacher, a wildlife conservation veterinarian and researcher, who was not involved in the study.
The expansion of human and animal overlap will be most concentrated in regions where human population density is already high, such as India and China. Agricultural and forest areas in Africa and South America will also experience substantial increases of overlap.
However, in some regions the human-wildlife overlap was projected to reduce, including across more than 20% of land in Europe. We all need space in which to thrive.
Excerpted from the Guardian, August 21, 2024
