World leaders ‘ignoring’ role of destruction of nature in causing pandemics // World’s soils ‘under great pressure’, says UN pollution report

By Dilip -

The razing of forests and hunting of wildlife is increasingly bringing animals and the microbes they harbour into contact with people and livestock. About 70% of new infectious diseases have come from animals, including Covid-19, Sars, bird flu, Ebola and HIV. However, preventing this root cause of spillover is scarcely mentioned by leaders and authorities, said the scientists behind a new independent taskforce, which will report to the coalition on Preventing Pandemics at the Source. The PPS said the issue has been ignored by the World Health Assembly, and a recent report for the World Health Organization on the coronavirus pandemic.

Recent research estimated the annual cost of preventing further pandemics over the next decade to be $26bn (£18bn), just 2% of the financial damage caused by Covid-19. The measures would include protecting forests, shutting down risky trade in wildlife, better protecting farm animals from infection and rapid disease detection in wildlife markets....


The world’s soils, which provide 95% of humanity’s food, are “under great pressure”, according to a UN report on soil pollution. Soils are also the largest active store of carbon, after the oceans, and therefore crucial in fighting the climate crisis. But the report said industrial pollution, mining, farming and poor waste management are poisoning soils, with the “polluter pays” principle absent in many countries.

Pollutants include metals, cyanides, DDT and other pesticides, and long-lasting organic chemicals such as PCBs, the report said, making food and water unsafe, cutting the productivity of fields and harming wildlife. However, it said most releases of pollutants that end up in soils are not easily quantified and therefore the true damage remains highly uncertain...


Earthly Anecdotes: an alternative to the doom-saying of our times

Reynard Loki - Here’s a major lesson from the pandemic: We can save the planet from climate change

This obscure energy treaty is the greatest threat to the planet you’ve never heard of

Erin Brockovich - Plummeting sperm counts, shrinking penises: toxic chemicals threaten humanity

"DoD: At Least 126 Bases Report Water Contaminants Linked to Cancer, Birth Defects"

 

John Sentamu - It’s time to act against the oil companies causing death and destruction

Restoring forests could capture two-thirds of the carbon humans have added to the atmosphere

Book review: The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History // Conservative groups spend up to $1bn a year to fight action on climate change

From Siberia to Australia: the age of fire is the bleakest warning yet        

The Amazon is burning. The climate is changing. And we're doing nothing to stop it

MONEY TO BURN: Over 300 banks and investors back 6 of the world’s most harmful agribusinesses to the tune of $44bn

Matt Sheehan - Silent documentary on China's unspooling environmental disasters

Toby Walsh - Noam Chomsky and Stephen Hawking among a thousand intellectuals to sign Open Letter to Stop Killer Robots Before They’re Built

Joseph Stiglitz on artificial intelligence: We're going towards a more divided society

REBECCA SMITHERS - We Are Flushing Away Our Forests: Researchers warn that toilet paper is becoming unsustainable

David Cox - The planet's prodigious poo problem

Owen Jones: Why don’t we treat the climate crisis with the same urgency as coronavirus?


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