In a new report 'COVID 19: urgent call to protect people and nature', WWF says that the environmental factors driving the emergence of zoonotic diseases are: the trade and consumption of high-risk wildlife, land-use change leading to deforestation and conversion, expansion of agriculture and unsustainable intensification and animal production.
However, addressing high-risk wildlife trade and consumption in isolation will not be enough to prevent the next pandemic - our unsustainable global food system is driving large-scale conversion of natural spaces for agriculture, fragmenting natural ecosystems and increasing interactions between wildlife, livestock and humans.
"In the midst of this tragedy there is an opportunity to heal our relationship with nature and mitigate risks of future pandemics but a better future starts with the decisions governments, companies and people around the world take today."
WWF highlights the upcoming UN Biodiversity Summit, scheduled to take place in September 2020, as a key moment for world leaders to accelerate action on nature ahead of critical decisions on the environment, climate and development, now due to be taken in 2021.
With world leaders scheduled to take critical decisions on the environment, climate and development in the next year, we have a momentous opportunity to secure a New Deal for Nature and People that sets nature on the path to recovery by 2030, in support of climate action and the Sustainable Development Goals.
