3 becoming 1 – the formula to save life on Earth

ARTICLE

3 becoming 1 – the formula to save life on Earth

Humans are not almighty. That is one of the greatest lessons we learned from the COVID-19 outbreak. Despite humankind’s many accomplishments, no cutting edge technology or trailblazing scientific research prevented us from suffering the drastic consequences of the global spillover of an unknown virus.

We did eventually manage to control the situation, but that did not happen before a wide spread economic recession and millions of deaths. That aftermath cannot be considered a victory. Even though humanity has been afflicted by different pandemics and epidemics, many of them were never eradicated. They come and go seasonally, causing considerable damage and this is not the end,different pathogens will continue to appear. Antimicrobial resistance caused by abusive use of antibiotics will progressively create stronger and harder to treat pathogens. In other words: although we might have won this battle, if things continue as they are, there is a war yet to come.

While there is still debate on the origins of the COVID-19 spillover, leading health organisations agree in on one point: it derived from human-animal contact.1 COVID-19 is a zoonosis, “an infectious disease that jumped from a non-human animal to humans2”, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Indeed, interactions between humans and animals have been happening since the beginning of civilisation. But the fact that today 3 out of every 4 new emerging infectious diseases in people come from animals3 indicates that something has changed...What changed was the kind and intensity of those interactions.

Technological advances changed our relationship with animals. Animal farming became factory farming, a model that concentrates hundreds to thousands of animals in one confined location where they are raised for meat, dairy and eggs. Conglomerating many animals facilitates the spread of diseases, not only because of closeness, but also due to the compromising of their immune system, caused by stress. To control those diseases, the livestock industry makes abundant use of antibiotics, in response to which bacteria change. “Bacteria, not humans or animals, become antibiotic-resistant4”, as WHO points out.

More animals raised for food means more emission of pollutants to the atmosphere. In a 2020 article, The Guardian stated that the “EU’s farmed animals ‘produce more emissions than cars and vans combined’5”. While contributing to climate change, industrial animal agriculture is itself contributing to the rising temperatures, which facilitate the spread of pathogens. Factory farming is, thus, a cauldron of disease that threatens humans, animals and the environment.

The solution is simple but not easy: we must change the way we see animals and the environment. So far, humans have been exploiting other beings and natural resources as if they were something different from us. Their commoditisation is openly institutionalised in our policies and laws. Humans, animals and the environment are not only the sources of all life on Earth; they are codependent source of all life on Earth. That relationship, that should be balanced, has been profoundly disrupted by human predominance. If humans do not realise that we are one with both animals and the environment, natural disasters and pandemics are going to continue happening and will become more often and harsher – until there is no life left to be affected.

The importance of that interconnection was translated into ‘One Health’, “an integrated, unifying approach to balance and optimise the health of people, animals and the environment 6”, under WHO’s definition. After the COVID-19 pandemic, the initiative has spread across different sectors at the local, national, regional and global level. One Health is an invitation for governments, researchers, and other workers to prevent, predict, detect, and respond to global health threats. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) are also working with WHO on this endeavor.

Pandemics do not recognise territory borders. As a global call, One Health requires a global compromise. For many reasons, the International Health Regulations, approved in 1969 and last reviewed in 20057, have proved inefficient. The current crises calls for a brand new instrument, one that emphasizes the values praised by One Health.

The movement for “Global Pandemic Treaty” was launched by WHO in 2021; negotiations of that treaty are already happening. During its second meeting in July 2022, the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body 8 worked on a working draft (document A/ INB/2/3 9) that reaffirms the importance of a One Health approach to prevent, prepare and/or respond to pandemics.

Another interesting initiative is the “Convention on Animal Protection” (CAP)10, a draft treaty prepared by a team of practicing lawyers and legal academics in international law and animal law called “International Coalition for Animal Protection” (ICAP). CAP focuses on strengthening a One Health approach across all aspects of pandemic prevention and preparedness, recognising critical links between human and animal health and the environment.

Regardless of which convention is approved, what matters is that humans are finally realising they do not own the Earth. Despite being a fundamental piece, we still need two other pieces to complete life’s puzzle: animals and the environment. Life on Earth depends on 3 becoming 1. 

Vanessa Gischkow Garbini

Vanessa Gischkow Garbini

Brazillian Attorney

Vanessa is a Brazilian attorney and a Visiting Fellow with the Animal Law and Policy Program at Harvard Law School. She holds a Master Degree in International Law (Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil) and an LLM in Animal Law (Lewis & Clark, United States). Her main fields of interest are international law, animal law, human rights and environmental law.

1. World Health Organization. Origin of SARS.CoV-2 (March 26, 2020) https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/ handle/10665/332197/WHO-2019-nCoV-FAQ-Virus_origin2020.1-eng.pdf

2. World Health Organization. Zoonoses key facts (July 29, 2020) https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/zoonoses

3. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Zoonotic Diseases (July 1, 2021). https://www.cdc.gov/onehealth/ basics/zoonotic-diseases.html

4. World Health Organization. Antibiotic resistance key facts (July 31, 2020) https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/ antibiotic-resistance

5. The Guardian. EU’s farm animals ‘produce more emissions than cars and vans combined. https://www.theguardian.com/ environment/2020/sep/22/eu-farm-animals-produce-moreemissions-than-cars-and-vans-combined-greenpeace

6. World Health Organization. One Health (September 21, 2017) https://www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/ one-health

7. World Health Organization. How would a pandemic treaty relate with the existing IHR (2005)? (May 23, 2021) https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2021/05/23/how-would-apandemic-treaty-relate-with-the-existing-ihr-2005/

8. World Health Organization. Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (July 18-21, 2022) https://apps.who.int/gb/inb/e/e_inb-2.html

9. World Health Organization. A/INB/2/3 (July 13, 2022) https://apps.who.int/gb/inb/pdf_files/inb2/A_INB2_3-en.pdf

10. International Coalition for Animal Protection. Convention on Animal Protection for Public Health, Animal well-Being, and the Environment. www.conventiononanimalprotection.org