: COVID-19 Is a Symptom of a Bigger Problem: Our Planetâ€™s Ailing Health #WorldNEWS The COVID-19 outbreak is a global tragedy. Hundreds of thousands have died, healthcare systems are buckling, and

COVID-19 Is a Symptom of a Bigger Problem: Our Planetâ€™s Ailing Health #WorldNEWS
The COVID-19 outbreak is a global tragedy. Hundreds of thousands have died, healthcare systems are buckling, and the future is uncertain for millions of people whose livelihoods are collapsing. It is absolutely right that the focus today is on saving lives here and now. In the same spirit of doing what we can to safeguard people’s wellbeing, we must not content ourselves with containing the acute crisis. We must also look ahead to what we can learn from this crisis to prevent future risks. COVID-19 is a reminder of how vulnerable even our modern, technologically advanced societies are.
The biggest lesson is that COVID-19 is more than an illness. It is a symptom of the ailing health of our planet. Humanity’s dysfunctional relationship with nature has caused this wider disease. Understanding this root cause is critical, if we want to rise stronger after the crisis. COVID-19 is a zoonotic virus—meaning it spilled over from wild animals to humans—and evolved into a pandemic due to the now well-established risk cocktail of the 21st century: ecosystem destruction, species loss, global warming, colliding with risky human behavior like illegal wildlife trade. All of this has played out in a globalized network of trade and travel.

COVID-19 is not an isolated event. Research shows that 60% of all known infectious diseases in humans and 75% of all emerging infectious diseases are zoonotic. As we move into natural habitats, and exploit ever more wildlife, contact between humans and disease-carrying species increases.
Zoonotic diseases aren’t the only symptom of poor planetary health. Climate change is an even more serious crisis; it potentially poses existential risks for future generations, and is already having real-time impact on millions globally, for example through extreme weather events such as cyclones and floods. Changes in climate have a multiplier effect, leading to other problems, from ecosystem stability to food production and human conflict. Ecosystem and biodiversity loss are threatening the planet’s ability to provide goods and services –deforestation for example, disrupts our weather patterns and the water cycle, contributes to climate change, and destroys the habitats of important species. Chemicals and waste are polluting the air, soil and water, killing millions each year.
All of these symptoms make clear that the planet’s health, and therefore our health, is deteriorating rapidly. And nature, just like a human, can only take so much before things reach the point of collapse.
We have known for a long time that we face a climate crisis and an ecological crisis. And now we are in the midst of another crisis, a tightly interconnected pandemic.