Is COVID-19 an unlikely boon in disguise for wildlife and nature?
When COVID-19 will be spoken about in the future
and it impacts’ dissected by an army of researchers, there will be one
recurrent theme that will come up each time the matter is discussed and will
possibly set the tone for developing mitigation plans to counter such
pandemics. The coronavirus will be spoken as a zoonotic disease that originated
from Wuhan’s infamous wet markets, where live and dead wildlife is traded
legally and illegally and it will be spoken as the one time when nature
directed the conversation with humans and not the other way around.
The pandemic is creating interesting scenarios
for the post-apocalyptic observer. Millions are forced to spend most of their
time indoors; streets and neighbourhoods are empty, malls, theatres,
restaurants have been labelled as non-essentials and closed down. Clean air, clearer
skies, frequent and louder birdsongs and less garbage on the streets are
becoming headline news.
However, perhaps even more significant are
images of wildlife roaming around in urban centres. Forced into oblivious
invisible man-made sanctuaries, but with a tendency to explore spaces in
absence of humans, wildlife is slowly reclaiming what is rightfully theirs. As
they wander in the realms of the erstwhile crowded cityscapes, devoid of its
myriad vehicles and humans, one needs to ponder on the impacts once the
lockdown eases and humankind returns to the streets.
Global
Wildlife Trade Ban
With the fear that regular wildlife trade will
soon resume, forestry personnel across the country are keeping an eye out to
prevent stray cases of opportunistic poaching. China, which is the primary
market for wildlife produce has uncharacteristically moved to ban wildlife
trade on February 24 after the country received widespread criticism for its
wet markets such the one in Wuhan. But, the trade has slowly moved back with
reports indicating a growing preference for the online route to meet the demand
in China. But what begets doubts over the country’s intentions is the government’s
recommendation of using Tan
Re Qing, a remedy containing bear bile, to treat
COVID-19 patients, which is in contradiction to their ban. The Chinese
government also listed a traditional Chinese medicine called Angong Niuhuang
Wan, which contains rhino horn.
The fear is that just as in 2003 after the SARS
epidemic which was traced to have come from bats via civets, China had banned
wildlife trade and wet markets, but reopened them after 6 months, will the
trade in wildlife again resume surreptitiously if not openly. In such a
scenario, the threat of spread of zoonotic diseases will continue to be high
besides threatening wildlife populations across the world.
Wildlife
and Spaces
The most likely post-COVID scenario is that
animals will retreat and everything will gradually go back to the usual, as
things were before. This is due to the tendency of animals to avoid human space.
New nests and dwelling may be impacted by disturbance or human presence, but
such nests/ dwelling will be very low in first place. Wildlife may try to get
to the places they got used to during the lockdown but eventually will stop
trying. Road-kills may be high immediately after the movement ban is lifted,
but will gradually go down as the wildlife gradually withdraws into their
oblivious refuge.
One
health - A powerful concept but a paper tiger
The UN environment chief, Inger Andersen in an
interview to the
Guardian, said, “Never before have so many
opportunities existed for pathogens to pass from wild and domestic animals to
people. At the end of the day, all of these events, nature is sending us a
message. We are intimately interconnected with nature, whether we like it or
not. If we don’t take care of nature, we can’t take care of ourselves. And as
we hurtle towards a population of 10 billion people on this planet, we need to
go into this future armed with nature as our strongest ally.”
This points us towards the one health concept,
which was recommended by the WHO in 2008 to fight the monster of zoonotic
diseases. The concept’s three main components are food safety, zoonoses and
antibiotic resistance. The WHO suggested bringing together scientists from the
fields of medicine, veterinary science, plant health and environment. India is
highly vulnerable to such diseases and has a not so good medical policy or infrastructure.
Its reactive response to zoonotic disease coupled with a huge burden of
zoonoses should push it harder to work towards having a strong and working one
health policy.
Climate
Change
“If one virus can wipe out the entire economy in
a matter of weeks and shut down societies, then that is a proof that our
societies are not very resilient. It also shows that once we are in an
emergency, we can act and we can change our behaviour quickly,” said climate
activist Greta Thunberg to New
Scientist. This is important because reduced
movement is healing the environment. Can we have such lockdowns on a regular
basis to propel the fight against climate change? This pandemic is showing us
we can actually live on essentials without thriving on the unnecessary
luxuries. Although we are talking about a small percentage of the source of
carbon emissions, small acts build up into a greater force compounded. We must
realize and accept we are part of this beautiful nature.
While the benefits from the virus remain
debatable in the midst of such gloom, the best case scenario is that humans
will become sensitive towards nature and wildlife. They may grudgingly
acknowledge and perhaps even actively realise that it is our actions that have
led to habitat destruction and that in turn creates
more probability of zoonotic diseases to spread. Wildlife
can be tamed, killed, caged, eaten, but it can rage a silent war over us like
the COVID-19. Should we still be like an ostrich with its head buried in sand oblivious
to the risks of wildlife trade or will we choose to be a little wiser, filled
with compassion and love for the natural world around us.
