As the world still grapples with COVID-19 and its numerous and costly consequences, UN-GRASP participated in the drafting of a scientific assessment and key messages for policy-makers on “Preventing the next pandemic: zoonotic diseases and how to break the chain of transmission”, launched by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
UN-GRASP is a partnership dedicated to help ensure the long-term survival of gorillas, chimpanzees, and orangutans and their habitat in Africa and Asia. UNESCO and UNEP host its secretariat.
The report discusses zoonotic diseases, their occurrences and consequences and the factors linked to their emergence. Notably, there is increasing evidence that the emergence of zoonoses is closely linked to the destruction and degradation of ecosystems, and evidence that outbreaks of diseases may become more frequent as climate change continues to accentuate the drivers of ecosystem degradation. Furthermore, their frequency is increasing considerably due to unsustainable practices by humans.
It is not yet known if great apes are susceptible to SARS CoV-2. However, there is abundant scientific evidence that great apes are susceptible to infection with human respiratory pathogens. At this point, it is safest to assume that great apes are susceptible to SARS CoV-2 infection.
5 months after this joint statement, it is still unknown whether or not Great Apes are still susceptible to the disease. A recent webinar hosted by UNESCO gathered specialists on the field including primatologists and other scientists, protected area and internationally designated sites managers, NGO’s representatives who confirmed that all protected areas and other conservation centres that are great apes’ habitats have been closed to the public since the beginning of the pandemic. They are also operating on skeleton crews in order to limit the risks of transmission. This decreased presence of humans has however increased the opportunities for poaching and illegal hunting, particularly where local offers of meat protein have dropped and prices have thus soared.
The report provides a way forward by presenting the One Health concept as key for conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. One Health is a collaborative, multisectoral, and transdisciplinary approach—working at local, regional, national and global levels—to achieve optimal health and well-being outcomes recognizing the interconnections between people, animals, plants and their shared environments. As example of the approach, the role of UN-GRASP is highlighted for its study of the complex relationship between biodiversity and infectious disease outbreaks and its successful enterprise in designing and implementing health monitoring protocols for humans and great apes with all concerned stakeholders that were then replicated in every range states. UNESCO’s monitoring programme on Great Apes habitats currently under development shall try to provide data which will allow to make the link between healthy environment and healthy apes.
The One Health approach invites us to look collectively at our relationship with the environment and how our collective health (human, animal and environmental) are impacted by our actions. It also enjoins us to look collectively for science-based solutions, and to collectively implement them in order to prevent further zoonotic diseases outbreaks.