beings, explains Peter Norberg. Short-term thinking caused the pandemic

Holistic thinking prevents pandemics

A change of seismic proportions is what is needed to prevent future pandemics, according to a new report. - In addition to illness and death, COVID-19 has also entailed enormous costs for the global economy. Hopefully, the disease will bring about some good, in that humanity will learn to work preventively instead of reacting when disaster has already struck, says Marie Stenseke.

According to a report from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), there are up to 827,000 unknown viruses in the natural world that could infect humans. – If we do nothing, future pandemics will break out more frequently, spread faster, cause more damage to the global economy and kill more people, explains Marie Stenseke, one of the chairs of the IPBES scientific management team.

It has long been known that pandemics are caused by virus transmission from animals to humans.

– The interesting thing is that the same behaviours and activities that are causing climate change and the depletion of biodiversity are also driving the outbreak of epidemics. These include expansion and intensification of agriculture and production, as well as consumption that damages natural habitats and increases contact between wildlife, livestock and humans. Furthermore, there is the trade in live, wild animals.

Reducing land development, reducing the trade in animals and increasing supervision entail costs in the short term, but it is still not nearly as costly as the ongoing pandemic, Marie Stenseke emphasizes. – According to the IPBES report, the COVID-19 pandemic has cost at least a hundred times more than preventive measures would have done. The consequences have been declining trade, people who have lost their income, an adverse impact on education and of course the cost of healthcare, medicines and vaccines.

One risk pointed out by IPBES is that the acute difficulties that humanity is experiencing right now will overshadow problems whose effects will only come to pass well into the future.

– That is why the IPBES emphasizes a holistic perspective on health, a so-called one health approach. To do so, the IPBES proposes an international forum that provides policy-makers with the best available facts, both regarding pandemics and other important issues. They also argue that the costs of health must be taken into account in various calculations, for example when determining the price for the development of new land. Other important issues include combating the trafficking of wild animals, such as by informing people of the risks, and grounding any decisions that are made among the citizens; a country is never more environmentally friendly than the average voter.

We often make decisions from perspectives that are too short term, both as individuals, companies and as a society, says Marie Stenseke. – But we also have the ability to take responsibility, care for others and change harmful behaviour. The positive thing is that we have taken responsibility before. For example, the realization that freons were destroying the ozone layer led to a manufacturing ban in a large number of countries. To be able to act, you have to remain hopeful and there are, after all, reasons to be hopeful.

– We need a holistic perspective on climate, biodiversity and health because all these problems are connected, Marie Stenseke explains.

The interesting thing is that the same behaviours and activities that are causing climate change and the depletion of biodiversity are also driving the outbreak of epidemics.

MARIE STENSEKE Text: Eva Lundgren Photo: Johan Wingborg

Facts

The Intergovernmental Scien-

ce-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) was established in 2012, has 137 member states and is headquartered in Bonn. The scientific management of the IPBES comprises a multidisciplinary expert group with 25 members, five for each region of the world. The two chairs of the expert group are Luthando Dziba from South Africa, and Marie Stenseke, Professor of Human Geography, and Pro Dean at the School of Business, Economics and Law.

The IPBES report is available here: https://ipbes.net/pandemics.