{"id":793,"date":"2021-04-06T12:17:21","date_gmt":"2021-04-06T12:17:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.science4wildlife.com\/?p=793"},"modified":"2021-04-06T13:10:48","modified_gmt":"2021-04-06T13:10:48","slug":"covid-19-and-biodiversity-one-year-later","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.science4wildlife.com\/index.php\/2021\/04\/06\/covid-19-and-biodiversity-one-year-later\/","title":{"rendered":"Covid-19 and biodiversity one year later"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Photo by Jue Huang<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

One year ago, the world stood still due to\nthe Covid-19 pandemic, the virus spread inexorably, and most of the world was in\nlockdown. As a society,\nthose were traumatic and confusing days. The uncertainties regarding what was\nhappening and what was going to happen were immense. In this context, we tried\nto find positive and comforting messages to calm our unsettling feelings. One\nof the first messages we heard in the media was ‘nature is healing its wounds’ and\n‘the environment is having a break’. These messages were accompanied by images\nof animals freely roaming human spaces. We read about cougars, turtles, goats,\ndeer, elks, and dolphins spotted in cities, roads, beaches, and canals. Moreover,\nwe saw coloured maps going from red to green showing the decrease in air\npollution worldwide. But what is left of it after a year of pandemic? It seems\nthat it was just a mirage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\nis still an absence of scientific evidence of any environmental improvement due\nto the Covid-19 pandemic 1<\/sup>. Those wildlife images we saw in the media were only\nanecdotal observations. Studies that contrast this have yet to be completed or\neven undertaken.  However, experts have\npointed out some likely consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic that we should\nreally plan ahead\nif we want to prevent the next pandemic and avoid worsening the already ongoing\nenvironmental crisis.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nCovid-19 pandemic has had a clear impact on our economic system. Among other\nsectors, tourism and hospitality have almost completely stopped. Global trade\nmarkets have reduced activities because of consumption contraction. Both have had\ndirect effects on the environment. The first clear impact was the reduction of\nthe consumption of fossil fuels and subsequent greenhouse gas emissions derived\nfrom travel restrictions. However, this reduction was only visible during the\nfirst half of 2020 while generalized strict lockdown measures were in place.\nStill, these numbers rose again during the second half of 2020. Globally, the reductions\nof CO2<\/sub> in 2020 was only 6.4% 2<\/sup> compared to the previous year. However, this\ndemonstrated that if we want to tackle climate change, we should apply strict\nmeasures. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nreduction of tourism has also had direct\nnegative consequences for wildlife. Tourism reduction has decreased the means\nof income for many people in the world; with fewer resources, there has been an\nincrease in poaching, hunting, and logging. In Africa, tourism accounts for 50%\nof wildlife reserves revenue, without this income,  poaching has become a source of survival 3<\/sup>. In addition, a substantial part of the resources\ndirected to prevent illegal poaching comes from tourism revenues. In the Amazon,\nrainforest deforestation rose by 55% in the first four months of 2020 compared\nwith the previous year 4<\/sup>. This is not to say that tourism is the most\nsustainable way to protect wildlife, but a sudden and unexpected drop in\ntourism revenues has had a direct negative impact on it.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Covid\n-19 pandemic also has implications for environmental funding and regulation. As\nwell as the lack of tourism revenues that fund conservation programs, other sources\nof funding have been redirected to more immediate social and economic concerns.\nFor example, the creation of green infrastructures has been halted or delayed\ndue to the pandemic. Most environmental regulations are also shrinking; environmental\nregulation laws are already being relaxed in the United States, Indonesia, or India\n1<\/sup>. The positive side of the pandemic is a temporary ban\non the wildlife market by China and the possibility of further bans on wildlife\ntrade by other countries. However, doing this without prior planning could also\nharm poor people that depend on wildlife for their livelihood and food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biodiversity\nplays a fundamental role in preventing the next pandemic. Most of the emerging\ndiseases are zoonoses, caused by microbes that are transmitted from animals and\njump to humans. The likelihood of this jump occurring increases with human\nactivities such as land-use change, agricultural expansion and intensification,\nand wildlife trade and consumption, which have led humans to come in contact\nwith potential carriers of zoonotic diseases, thus increasing the likelihood of\ntriggering the next pandemic. These underlying causes that could trigger the\nnext pandemic are the drivers of biodiversity loss and climate change 5<\/sup>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One\nyear ago, the world stood still due to the Covid-19 pandemic; we have read many\narticles wishing for a green and fair recovery after the pandemic. Environmental\norganizations and social activists have seen the pandemic as an opportunity to\nrethink our economic model and our relationship with nature 6<\/sup>. It seemed that the pandemic could have helped us to revaluate\nour world’s economic and environmental trajectories.  However, after a year of pandemic, it looks\nlike we are returning to economic normalcy with even less regard for\nenvironmental issues than before. Therefore, we should urgently demand\ntransformative changes based on scientific evidence that re-assess the\nrelationship between people and nature, eliminate social inequality, reduce unsustainable\nconsumption, and tackle the fundamental cause of biodiversity loss, climate change\nand pandemic emergence. The present and the future of our planet depends on it.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1.        Bang, A. &\nKhadakkar, S. Biodiversity conservation during a global crisis: Consequences\nand the way forward. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the\nUnited States of America<\/em> vol. 117 29995\u201329999 (2020).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2.        Tollefson, J. COVID curbed 2020 carbon\nemissions \u2014 but not by much. Nature<\/em> 24<\/strong>, 168\u2013175 (2021).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3.        The Nature Conservancy. A Global Crisis\nReaches the Wild. https:\/\/www.nature.org (Aprile 2020)<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4.        Daly, D. C. We have been in lockdown,\nbut deforestation has not. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences\nof the United States of America<\/em> vol. 117 24609\u201324611 (2020).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5.        IPBES. IPBES Workshop on Biodiversity\nand Pandemics<\/em>. IPBES<\/em> www.ipbes.net (2020)\ndoi:10.5281\/zenodo.4147317.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6.        Pearson, R. M., Sievers, M., McClure, E.\nC., Turschwell, M. P. & Connolly, R. M. COVID-19 recovery can benefit\nbiodiversity. Science<\/em> vol. 368 838\u2013839 (2020).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One year ago, the world stood still due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the virus spread inexorably, and most of the world was in lockdown. As a society, those were traumatic and confusing days. The uncertainties regarding what was happening and what was going to happen were immense. In this context, we tried to find positive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":800,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[15,16,17],"class_list":["post-793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-biodiversity","tag-covid-19","tag-recovery"],"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/www.science4wildlife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Picture2.jpg",761,458,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/www.science4wildlife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Picture2.jpg",761,458,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/www.science4wildlife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Picture2.jpg",761,458,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.science4wildlife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Picture2-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.science4wildlife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Picture2-300x181.jpg",300,181,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.science4wildlife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Picture2.jpg",610,367,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.science4wildlife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Picture2.jpg",761,458,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.science4wildlife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Picture2.jpg",761,458,false],"post-thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.science4wildlife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Picture2-680x330.jpg",680,330,true],"evolve-post-thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.science4wildlife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Picture2-680x330.jpg",680,330,true],"evolve-slider-thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.science4wildlife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Picture2-400x300.jpg",400,300,true],"evolve-tabs-img":["https:\/\/www.science4wildlife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Picture2-50x50.jpg",50,50,true],"evolve-testimonial-avatar":["https:\/\/www.science4wildlife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Picture2-80x80.jpg",80,80,true]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Maria Lumbierres Civit","author_link":"https:\/\/www.science4wildlife.com\/index.php\/author\/maria\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"Blog<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"One year ago, the world stood still due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the virus spread inexorably, and most of the world was in lockdown. As a society, those were traumatic and confusing days. The uncertainties regarding what was happening and what was going to happen were immense. In this context, we tried to find positive…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.science4wildlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.science4wildlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.science4wildlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.science4wildlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.science4wildlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=793"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.science4wildlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":803,"href":"https:\/\/www.science4wildlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793\/revisions\/803"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.science4wildlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.science4wildlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.science4wildlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.science4wildlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}