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Researchers cautioned that upcoming pandemics will be more lethal, proliferate faster, do more damage to the economy, and kill more people than coronavirus pandemic.
This can only be prevented by bringing transformative change in the global approach to dealing with infectious diseases.
As many as 22 leading experts collated the study on biodiversity which was presented at the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). The report was published in the journal EurekAlert!.
The virtual workshop explained the link between the degradation of nature and increasing pandemic risks. The experts agreed that escaping the era of pandemics is possible, but that this will require a seismic shift in approach from reaction to prevention.
Undiscovered viruses
The experts noted that it is estimated another 1.7 million currently 'undiscovered' viruses exist in mammals and birds - of which up to 850,000 could have the ability to infect people.
Dr. Peter Daszak, President of EcoHealth Alliance and Chair of the IPBES workshop said: "There is no great mystery about the cause of the COVID-19 pandemic - or of any modern pandemic."
“Changes in the way we use the land; the expansion and intensification of agriculture; and unsustainable trade, production, and consumption, disrupt nature and increase contact between wildlife, livestock, pathogens, and people. This is the path to pandemics," he added.
Pointing to the likely cost of COVID-19 of $8-16 trillion globally by July 2020, it is further estimated that costs in the United States alone may reach as high as $16 trillion by the 4th quarter of 2021.
The experts estimated the cost of reducing risks to prevent pandemics to be 100 times less than the cost of responding to such pandemics, "providing strong economic incentives for transformative change."
The report also offers a number of policy options that would help to reduce and address pandemic risk. Among these are:
Launching a high-level intergovernmental council on pandemic prevention
Countries setting mutually-agreed goals or targets within the framework of an international accord or agreement
Institutionalizing the 'One Health' approach in national governments to build pandemic preparedness, enhance pandemic prevention programs, and to investigate and control outbreaks across sectors.
The economic cost of pandemics must be factored into consumption, production, and government policies and budgets. Enabling changes to reduce the types of consumption, globalized agricultural expansion and trade that have led to pandemics
Speaking about the workshop report, Dr. Anne Larigauderie, Executive Secretary of IPBES said: "The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of science and expertise to inform policy and decision-making.”
She added: “Although it is not one of the typical IPBES intergovernmental assessments reports, this is an extraordinary peer-reviewed expert publication, representing the perspectives of some of the world's leading scientists, with the most up-to-date evidence and produced under significant time constraints.”
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