Everything is connected: One Health
Virginia Rail. Photo: Keith Olstad
“The pandemic is a reminder of the intimate and delicate relationship between people and planet. Any efforts to make our world safer are doomed to fail unless they address the critical interface between people and pathogens, and the existential threat of climate change that is making our Earth less habitable." These were the words of the WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at the 73rd World Health Assembly on May 18th 2020.
During the month of April we celebrated the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. It can feel daunting right now to think beyond the current pandemic and all its consequences, but it is perhaps the best moment to really reflect about the environment and our relationship with it.
More than two decades ago, scientists had already predicted that a pandemic was inevitable. We saw glimpses of this with diseases like SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome), Influenza A H1N1, and now we are living something without precedent at a global scale, COVID-19. What do all these diseases have in common? They are zoonoses- diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans. In fact, more than 60% of emerging infectious diseases are zoonotic, and more than 75% of them come from wildlife.
A hen Hooded Merganser and her duckling.
It is almost unbelievable that a virus harbored by a wild animal (a bat, civet, pangolin, etc.) might be able to lead to the global situation we have right now with COVID-19. And why these ‘jumps’ from wildlife to humans? This is where all connects. We, as humans, are degrading our planet like never before: deforestation, consumerism, wildlife trafficking, habitat destruction, pollution, climate change…all of these is making the planet unhealthy. And all these factors are bringing wildlife closer to humans and domestic animals, which facilitates the ‘jump’ of viruses between wild animals and other species (humans, domestic animals).
It is important emphasize this interconnectedness right now because sometimes we do not take action until something is directly affecting us. But it is critical that we change our mentality and that we reflect on this now because the damage we are causing the planet is directly affecting our health, and at the moment, this is taking place in the form of a pandemic. The interface of human health, animals, and the environment is what we call One Health.
Cedar Waxwing. Photo: Keith Olstad
There is so much anthropogenic pressure in nature. Even if our motivation is solely human health and not the environment, even then, we need to protect nature to protect us, because everything is connected. If we do not do it, the next pandemic will be knocking on the door sooner than we imagine. Every person has a role to play to take care of our Planet. We need to change our behavior towards the environment by being informed about what we consume, requesting Governments and businesses to invest into the environment, each of us helping to protect our planet.
Our health depends on the health of our ecosystems, the health of wildlife, the health of our planet as a whole. This is the moment to take care of our planet.
Irene Bueno Padilla, ACM Board Member
