UNGA Side Event Highlights Need To Protect Forests And Nature To Avert Future Pandemics

DR. JANE GOODALL, GOVERNMENT, ENVIRONMENT AND HEALTH LEADERS CALL FOR NEW APPROACH TO PREVENT FUTURE PANDEMICS

Urgent efforts required to reduce tropical deforestation and combat exploitation of wildlife for pet and food trade

Our life on this planet depends on a healthy biosphere. Human and ecological health cannot be separated. As we degrade and destroy the ecosystems we inhabit, we undermine not only the planet that is our home - we also harm our collective health. 

The social and economic impact of a global pandemic is immeasurable, including on the lives of the poor and vulnerable. The majority of pandemics originated from spillover of viruses from an animal to a person, including SARS, HIV, influenzas and almost certainly COVID-19. Human impact on ecosystems, be it through deforestation, unsustainable land use, agricultural practices or wildlife trade, increases the risk of such zoonotic spillover. This is preventable. Containing disease outbreaks after they happen and investing in vaccines, drugs, tests, and human surveillance is essential. But we also need to do everything we can to prevent zoonotic spillover from happening in the first place.

Taking action on prevention at the source is an investment far more profitable than handling increasingly frequent global pandemics – and the co-benefits for the biosphere are immense. Global leaders, health and environment actors must join forces, for people and planet, and make the investments needed.

H. E. Per Olsson Fridh, Minister for Development Cooperation of Sweden, and the Coalition to Prevent Pandemics at the Source are co-hosting a virtual side event to the 2021 UN General Assembly on September 27 at 9 am-10:30 am EDT. The event will bring together global health and environment communities to explore joint opportunities, featuring Dr. Jane Goodall.

The timing could not be more critical with the climate COP 26 and biodiversity COP 15 mere weeks away, the negotiations on the 8th replenishment of the GEF, the upcoming Special Session of the World Health Assembly and ongoing discussions on how to strengthen the international health system, as well as the UN conference Stockholm +50 coming up in June, linking our most pressing environmental and development agendas together.

What: Leaders from government, science and advocacy will discuss the implications of the new report by the Harvard-convened scientific taskforce on pandemic prevention at the source. They will highlight steps needed to address serious weaknesses in current planning internationally to prevent future pandemics.

When: 27 September at 9-10.30 a.m. Eastern / 2-2.30 p.m. London

Who: 

• Dr. Jane Goodall DBE, Leading environmentalist and humanitarian, UN Messenger of Peace, Founder of the Jane Goodall Institute.
• H.E. Per Olsson Fridh, Minister for International Development Cooperation, Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
• Rt. Hon. Helen Clark, former Prime Minister of New Zealand, co-chair Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response.
• Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, CEO and Chairperson, Global Environment Facility.
• Dr. Yewande Alimi, Director, AMR Program, Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
• Dr. Aaron Bernstein, Interim Director, Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and leader of the Scientific Task Force for Preventing Pandemics at the Source.
• Dr. Anders Nordström, Ambassador for Global Health, Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
• Dr. Cristián Samper, CEO, Wildlife Conservation Society.

ABOUT PREVENTING PANDEMICS AT THE SOURCE

In the summer of 2020, Dalberg Catalyst convened a group of prominent conservation and global health leaders to start a conversation on how the global community could prevent pandemics at the source. This convening served as the unofficial launchpad for the initiative’s Coalition - a collection of leading conservation, health, and COVID-survivor organizations that are working together to ensure that spillover prevention measures are included as part of a comprehensive plan to prevent future pandemics. Since then, Preventing Pandemics at the Source has supported scientific research to prove the link between the destruction of nature and increased pandemic risk; influenced pandemic-related policies in the U.S. and across the world; promoted a suite of nature-based solutions for stopping spillover; and brought pandemic prevention at the source into the mainstream media.

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