Deforestation and Disease

“Around the world, deforestation—often to clear land for agriculture—has been linked to outbreaks of diseases that have jumped from animal to human. HIV, Zika, Sars, mpox and Ebola are some of the diseases that have emerged from tropical forests”

“Three-quarters of new or emerging diseases that infect humans originate in animals, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. So, when humans destroy natural habitats and infringe on biodiversity-rich forests, diseases are able to spill over to them from wildlife more easily”

“Neil Ward, vice-president of PacBio Emea, a biotechnology company, says biodiversity loss linked to deforestation increases the likelihood of pandemics. ‘Disease escape is a major risk, considering that many pandemics have zoonotic origins,’ he explains”

Morand, Serge and Claire Lajaunie. “Outbreaks of Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases Are Associated With Changes in Forest Cover and Oil Palm Expansion at Global Scale.” SSRN, September 25, 2020. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3710299.

“The research found that increases in outbreaks of zoonotic and vector-borne diseases from 1990 to 2016 were heavily associated with deforestation. This was especially the case in the southern hemisphere, where deforestation was “really clearly linked in zoonotic and vector-borne disease”, says Morand”

“Morand believes a global treaty on forests is needed, akin to those agreed for desertification and the seas. ‘We need governments to step up,’ he says, and calls for a proper framework that takes into account the regulation of disease transmission”

“But he warns that simply planting trees is not enough to halt the risk of disease spreading from animals to humans. Morand’s study found that plantations focused heavily on one type of tree, as well as badly executed reforestation or afforestation”

“In temperate countries, reforestation was linked to disease, as were oil palm plantations”