The research examines various environmental factors like pollution, hunting, and climate change, and their combined effects on disease proliferation.
Key findings indicate that disruptions in biodiversity, largely due to human activities, make ecosystems more susceptible to parasites and diseases.
The study compiles extensive data from various species and pathogens to underscore a global increase in disease risks due to environmental degradation.
Key quote:
“This adds to a very long list of reasons we should be rapidly moving away from fossil fuels and trying to mitigate the impacts of climate change.”
— Felicia Keesing, professor at Bard College, whose research focuses on biodiversity and disease risks
Why this matters:
Healthy, diverse ecosystems often act as buffers against the spread of diseases. Species-rich areas, for instance, contain a variety of hosts that can dilute the impact of pathogens. However, when biodiversity is compromised — through deforestation, pollution, and climate change — these natural checks on disease diminish, and pathogens can spread more rapidly and widely.
Global heating is leading dozens of bat species to migrate to southern China and southeast Asian countries, amid growing concerns that the climate crisis could fuel more zoonotic disease and further deadly pandemics.
“If we want to give birds the best chance at survival, habitat conservation needs to be part of our efforts to fight climate change,” a researcher says.
One-third of — or more 7,000 — plant species in tropical Africa could be at risk of extinction due to climate change and human activities like logging, deforestation from agriculture, and mining, according to a new study.
