"LONDON - Pandemics will emerge more often, spread faster, cost more and kill more people than COVID-19 without bold action to halt the habitat destruction that helps viruses hop from wildlife to humans, according to a study published on Thursday.

The findings www.ipbes.net/pandemics [2] suggest that moves to protect tropical forests and other rich ecosystems to help slow climate change and save animal, bird and plant species could also prevent pandemics.

“It turns out that by doing something about pandemics we are also doing something about climate change and biodiversity, and that’s a good thing,” Peter Daszak, a zoologist who chaired the study by 22 international experts, told Reuters.

The group found that about half of an estimated 1.7 million undiscovered viruses in nature might be able to infect people."

Matthew Green reports for Reuters October 29, 2020. [3]