Central Pollution Control Board, India
The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated that the veneer of civilization is very thin. we did not have knowledge, resources and technologies to deal with such a devastating pandemic. More than 3.1 million people worldwide have died from Covid-19 and more than 146 million cases have been recorded till date. This pandemic is a crisis not today, this is only the beginning. The other viruses of animal origin are just around the corner. A future pandemic could be worse than the ongoing crisis because we are pushing nature to its limit by destroying and degrading amazingly diverse ecosystems, like tropical forests, rivers, lakes, mountains, coral reefs and many more and ultimately removing natural buffers and expanding the interface, the touch points, between wildlife and people where pandemics emerge.
Free Essay: For the Nipah Virus, fruit bats of the Pteropus genus have been identified as the natural reservoir. The virus has been isolated in many bodily.
Bats: 4 good reasons to save them
While some bats indeed suck blood and others carry viruses like COVID-19, we couldn t live without them. Pollinating hundreds of plant species and dispersing their seeds, bats are central cogs in diverse ecosystems.
Bats often have a bad reputation but we need them to survive
Bats have been mythologized for millennia as mystical, elusive and sometimes satanic creatures of the night. Indeed, the cave-dwelling superhero Batman is said to have been inspired by the Mayan death bat, an animal god of darkness and sacrifice known as Camazotz.
This image has become more sinister in recent times as bats are said to be the source of zoonotic diseases such as Ebola, SARS and now COVID-19. But researchers say humans are the real culprits since they re destroying habitats and biodiversity that once insulated people from pathogens carried by animals.
Why experts say tackling deforestation could be key to stopping future pandemics
Experts studying how diseases make their way from animals to humans say we need to rethink the way we use and manage land if we want to prevent future pandemics.
Social Sharing
CBC Radio ·
Posted: Apr 12, 2021 4:54 PM ET | Last Updated: April 12
A forest activist inspects a land clearing and drainage of peat natural forest in Riau province, Sumatra, Indonesia, in 2014. Large swaths of the country s forest areas are being cleared to make way for producing palm oil, says Terry Sunderland, a forestry professor at the University of British Columbia, and that can contribute to the spread of disease. (Ulet Ifansasti/Getty Images)