Abstract
Non-technical summaryInvesting in stricter biodiversity conservation and wildlife protection to reduce the number of emerging diseases and, consequently, the risk of pandemics such as coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19), must integrate a social-ecological perspective. Biodiversity conservation, in order to be effective as disease prevention, requires consideration of people's needs, knowledge and institutions within their locally specific contexts. To meet this goal, future biodiversity research and conservation policy should apply six social-ecological principles for shaping future practices of co-existence of societies and nature.Technical summaryThe COVID-19 pandemic, presumably originating in a spillover event from natural wildlife reservoirs into the human population, sets a new benchmark for the indirect cost of biodiversity exploitation. To reverse the trend of increasing pandemic risk, biodiversity conservation and wildlife protection must be strengthened globally. In this paper, we argue that such preventive measures explicitly need to employ a social-ecological approach. In particular, attention must be paid to the societal relations to nature to avoid falling for simplistic solutions that neglect regional and local particularities of both, biodiversity and local communities. We emphasize the importance of avoiding a Western-biased view and acknowledging the factors and causations of infectious disease emergence in industrialized countries. To reduce the emergence of zoonotic and vector-borne diseases in their specific contexts, we propose applying a social-ecological systems approach by integrating plural local knowledge and values, established practices, formal and informal institutions, as well as technology. We further introduce six social-ecological principles for shaping transformations in the Anthropocene to maintain and build more resilient and sustainable communities. By operationalizing these inter- and transdisciplinary principles, biodiversity conservation can be effectively implemented as infectious disease prevention.Social media summaryA social-ecological approach to biodiversity conservation can pave the way for an effective and socially just reduction of future pandemic risks.
Highlights
We emphasize the importance of a social-ecological perspective in order to better contextualize the underlying social-ecological structures and processes of emergent zoonotic diseases and guide future decision-making on biodiversity conservation and wildlife protection in response to COVID-19
Biodiversity and emerging infectious diseases are interlinked via a multitude of social and ecological factors that are themselves coupled on multi-scale and cross-sectoral bases
It is mandatory that governments and decision makers acknowledge this interdependency and, implement preventive strategies such as biodiversity conservation to reduce the opportunities for disease emergence
Summary
The COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced longstanding scientific debates on the complex link between biodiversity and the emergence of infectious diseases (Daszak et al, 2020; Johnson et al, 2015; Keesing et al, 2010) as well as the factors driving the risk of disease spillover from wildlife into human populations (Han et al, 2016). The IPBES workshop on biodiversity and pandemics has reviewed the scientific knowledge on the emergence of zoonotic diseases and concludes that ‘the underlying causes of pandemics are the same global environmental changes that drive biodiversity loss and climate change’ (Daszak et al, 2020) These factors notably include: accelerated urbanization (Ahmed et al, 2019; Hassell et al, 2017), industrial agriculture (Jones et al, 2013), deforestation and land-use change (Gottdenker et al, 2014; Tucker Lima et al, 2017), increased socio-economic inequality and poverty (Ahmed et al, 2019; Garchitorena et al, 2017; Grace et al, 2012) and ecotourism and global travel (Cascio et al, 2011). Normative discourse and the integration of plural knowledge and practices, rather than authoritative approaches, will be required to achieve necessary social-ecological transformations
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