Shankar Adhikari

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed the biggest challenge to our generation. It has proven to be a global health crisis, claimed the lives of some 1.2 million people and infected over 45 million people around the world. Similarly, the practice of working from the home, virtual meeting, and social distancing has now become a new normal due to the spread of the pandemic.

Root Cause
COVID-19 is a zoonotic disease and the virus of this disease jumps from animals to humans. The disease is caused by coronaviruses. If we delve deep into the underlying factors responsible for the pandemic crisis, we find different factors associated with the pandemic. The root cause of the pandemic is related to the destruction of nature and the natural ecosystem. If there is a single species responsible for the pandemic, it is we the human beings. On the other, it is also we, human beings, who can manage nature, and deal with the pandemic in the future.
The coronavirus, originated probably at wildlife markets in China, was transmitted to humans because of the latter's proximity to the wildlife. Studies have also shown that some 70 per cent of emerging infectious diseases originate from wildlife. For example, AIDS came from chimpanzees, and SARS is thought to have been transmitted to humans from bats. This indicates that the global trade and use of wild animals help originate and transfer the virus from wild animals to human beings.
Similarly, the second cause is the destruction and shrinkage of the natural habitat of wildlife species. A recent UN report on Biodiversity Assessment 2019 has confirmed that rampant deforestation and uncontrolled expansion of agriculture land contributed three-quarters of all land to be turned into farm fields, covered by concrete, swallowed up by dam reservoirs or otherwise.
These activities are bringing people closer contact and in conflict with wild animals than ever before. For example, we recklessly cut trees, we kill the animals and send them to markets. As a result, we disrupt ecosystems and let loose viruses from their natural hosts. When that happens, they need a new host. Often, human beings become the new host of these viruses.
Likewise, the third underlying cause is increased urbanisation and thereby increased travel and transportation. Urbanisation has triggered the shrinkage of the wild habitat, bringing the urban population to wild animals.
As many as 1.7 million unidentified viruses of the type known to infect people exist among wild animals including mammals and water birds. Coronavirus is one of such viruses. Any of these 1.7 million viruses could be the next coronavirus and could be more disruptive and lethal than the COVID pandemic.
If the current rate of destruction of nature and natural ecosystem continue and we fail to become careful about the possible impacts of the choices we make today, the future pandemics including the COVID-19 are likely to happen more frequently, spread more rapidly, have a greater adverse impact on the economy and kill more people.
The scientific communities are working hard to develop the vaccine against the COVID-19 pandemic, and the vaccine will soon be available to deal with it.
Nature Conservation
Besides having a medical solution, other measures can help address the underlying cause and prevent such pandemics. The most of such preventive measures are related to the conservation of nature and natural ecosystem.
We must strengthen and enforce environmental regulations to protect and restore bio-diverse areas and wildlife habitats. It will create a safe habitat for wildlife and reduces the chances of interaction between humans and wildlife. Due to which it reduces the spread of viruses from wild animals to humans.
Similarly, another preventive measure is- we should adopt a ‘One Health’ approach at all levels of decision-making – from the global to the local level. The idea behind one health approach is that the health of people is intimately connected to the health of wildlife, the health of livestock, and the health of the environment. Therefore, it recognises the intricate and complex interconnections among the health of people, animals, plants, and our shared environment. The One Health approach also ensures that better decisions are made and taken into account long-term costs, and consequences of development actions- for people and nature.
Finally, the ban on global wildlife trade will help prevent the spread of disease. In doing so, it helps address one of the major drivers of species extinction and help balance the ecosystem.
Considering the intricate and complex interconnection between wildlife and people, and possible zoonotic diseases, the Collaborative Partnership on Sustainable Wildlife Management has recently proposed four guiding principles to assist practitioners and decision-makers in making practical and scientifically informed responses. These principles aim to reduce the risk of future pandemics originating from wild animals, at the same time, strengthening the conservation of wildlife whilst respecting livelihoods, food security and culture of diverse groups of people.
The first aim of this principle is to recognise the importance of the use of wildlife for many communities, including indigenous peoples and local communities, in policy responses The second aim is to maintain and restore healthy and resilient ecosystems to reduce risks of zoonotic spillovers and future pandemics.
The third aim is to underscore the fact that persecution including the killing of wild animals suspected of transmitting diseases will not address the causes of the emergence or spread of zoonotic diseases. To put it simply, though the zoonotic diseases like COVID-19 are passed from wild animals to humans, the disease has spread globally by human-to-human transmission.
Therefore, the targeted killing of animal species in the wild will not stop the spread of zoonotic diseases. Rather, such activities put populations of those species at risk with the added detriment of the loss of their positive pest regulation and pollination functions.

Reducing Risks
Our action must focus on addressing the underlying causes and risk factors of disease spillover to reduce future pandemic risks. And the final aim of the principle is to regulate, manage and monitor harvesting, trade and use of wildlife to ensure it is safe, sustainable and legal.
To conclude, despite being a global health crisis, the pandemic is deeply rooted in the anthropogenic destruction of nature and the ecosystem. The scientific communities can devise the vaccine to cure the particular disease, but to address the underlying causes and not to repeat such pandemics time and again in the future; we need to choose policies and actions that protect nature so that nature can help to protect us. Protecting nature also helps us build strong resilient measures in the face of current and future pandemic situations.

(Adhikari is an under-secretary of the government of Nepal)