The coronavirus has changed the way mankind lives, but did mankind cause coronavirus? According to leaders at the UN, WHO, and WWF International, pandemics like this are the result of our own destruction of nature. This change was a long time coming. The devastation of forests, wildlife, natural landscapes, and more have all built up to one global crisis.
These aforementioned organizations are calling for an eco-friendly recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, hoping that by increasing the world's focus on sustainable farming and diets, they can prevent something similar in the near future.
“The risk of a new [wildlife-to-human] disease emerging in the future is higher than ever," said a statement released by the WWF, "with the potential to wreak havoc on health, economies and global security.”
Warnings for coronavirus have been publicized since March, but this is only the beginning. Leading research shows that an even more deadly disease is likely to break out in the future. The only way to stop it is to stop destroying the planet. One UN environmental chief stated that the pandemic was an "SOS signal for the human enterprise."
Experts are most worried because of recent viruses. "We have seen many diseases emerge over the years, such as Zika, Aids, Sars, and Ebola," said Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, head of the UN convention on biological diversity "and they all originated from animal populations under conditions of severe environmental pressures." It seems that until we fix mother earth, this pandemic won't ever end.