COVID-19 and Nature? Project Syndicate

Initial news reports on the COVID-19 pandemic focus on prevention, case totals and economic impact. Attention could soon turn to the crowding, lack of biodiversity and climate change that allows pathogens to emerge and spread around dense communities and a human population that approaches 8 billion. Some public health analysts contend that the world can anticipate more epidemics due to destruction of natural habitats including the Amazon, limited freshwater sources and the oceans. The businesses and individuals that lacked savings and supply reserves struggle during this crisis, explains Robert Skidelsky, for Project Syndicate, and perhaps societies should do more to arrange reserves and protections for the environment as well. Skidelsky warns governments not “to continue relying on technical fixes to get us out of any hole that our profligate lifestyles land us in” and “We should use our enforced downtime to ponder what solutions would work.” – YaleGlobal