Earth Wars: Nature Strikes Back
By Jan Greguš, Czech Republic, April 27, 2021
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The current pandemic has had many severe consequences, but
it has also acted as a reminder of the need for international cooperation when facing global challenges. Continued environ-
mental destruction will likely increase the risk for future
pandemics. Population growth is one of the main driving
factors of the continued encroachment into nature and needs
to be addressed as such.
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2020 was undoubtedly the year of COVID-19. The pandemic
overshadowed the phantom menace of human overpopulation &
the vast global healthcare, environmental, political,
economic and social implications it causes, above all
climate change [1,2,3]. Besides the fact that the COVID-19
pandemic has caused the deaths of 3 million people to date [4]
as well as severe economic losses, and both directly and
indirectly affected the physical and mental health of
whole populations, the virus lifted a disturbing mirror
to us and our society.

It showed us how fundamentally unprepared we were against
the global menace despite all the technological advancement
& general progress humanity has achieved. Worse, it revealed
how undisciplined & even disobedient we are as citizens who
are not willing to follow the benign recommendations given
by authorities & experts (i.e. optional social distancing,
wearing masks & respirators, & increased hygiene) [5]. The
pandemic uncovered how much we value our individual freedoms
to the extent we refuse to bear personal hardships for the
common good; for example, how little we are willing to
restrict ourselves in our free-time activities in solidarity
with vulnerable, high-risk groups. How much we wish to think
we are in the age of reason, while we believe everything
from the irrational to the mendacious – myths, prejudice &
fake news. How in a pursuit for never-ending economic growth
& financial profit, we are willing to risk the lives &
health of ourselves & others, such as our employers &
employees [6].

Still, from a long-term perspective, this difficult time in
our history can be beneficial: It helped us uncover negative
phenomena about ourselves & our current society & realize
our mistakes & weaknesses, so that when another threat to
our civilisation strikes, whether viral, extra-terrestrial
or another, perhaps more threatening & lethal than this one,
we can be better prepared. This difficult time also helps
us realize that the environment is without borders & what
happens in one region of the world affects the others.
The virus respects no state borders, different political
ideologies, or religious and cultural differences. Despite
our differences, in a globalized world, humanity is
essentially one organism; or, in other words, humanity is
also without borders. For that reason, the virus is an
important reminder of the need for international cooperation
in meeting global challenges.

The realization of the unity of humanity, & its subsequent
need for global cooperation, is a must because new disease
outbreaks of pandemic scale are a near mathematical certainty
if humanity does not improve its relationship with nature [7].
Multiple scientific authorities as well as international
orgs, including the UN & WHO, have released warnings about
how overexploitation of nature, especially via deforestation,
wildlife trade and animal agriculture, is fueling this and
similar human health crises [8].

In Nov, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on
Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) released the
major report “IPBES Workshop on Biodiversity & Pandemics,”
acc. to which the exponential increase in human consumption,
trade, & global population leads to the increased risk of
pandemics, with more than 5 new diseases emerging in humans
every year [9]. IPBES Workshop Chair Peter Daszak states,
“There is no great mystery about the cause of the COVID-19
pandemic, or of any other modern pandemic. The same human
activities that drive climate change and biodiversity loss
also drive pandemic risk through their impacts on our
environment” [9].

Nearly all known recent pandemics and emerging diseases,
including Ebola, Zika, Nipah encephalitis, influenza,
HIV/AIDS & COVID-19, are zoonotic diseases that spread due
to close contact between wildlife, livestock, & humans [9].
Population growth & increased wealth & consumption lead to
increased production of meat products. Acc. to projections,
by 2030, the global middle class is expected to reach 5.3
billion people; i.e., two billion more consumers of meat
products [10]. Acc. to the UN Food & Agriculture Org (FAO),
the consumption of meat products, driven by a growing number
of human consumers, is projected to double by mid-century
[10], which will heighten the risk of new pandemics.
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The spread of zoonotic diseases originates from anthropogenic destruction of the environment. [Image] from IPBES Workshop on Biodiversity and Pandemics.
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Intensive agriculture that brings animals into closer
contact with humans creates an environment that enables
the easier transmission of new viruses from animals to
humans. Even without this, global agriculture uses half of
all habitable land on Earth. What’s more, the triple threat
of human expansion into natural habitats, urbanization, &
globalization taken together increases exposure to new
viruses. First, a growing population means people expand
into new areas where they might encounter infected species.
Subsequently, the movement of people from rural areas into
cities increases urban population density, & large human
populations in cities & megacities represent ideal conditions
for disease spread. Last, globalization results in close
contacts between populations, & their greater & faster
movement within & between countries means disease can spread
more rapidly & extensively, as we witnessed this year.
It is clear that population growth and environmental
destruction fuel these deadly diseases [11].

Instead of merely relying on a damage-control strategy,
IPBES calls for prevention of pandemic emergence, which is
also more economical. The report shows that global preventive
measures based on reducing wildlife trade & land use change
would cost two orders of magnitude less than the damages
inflicted by the COVID-19 pandemic [9]. However, our track
record for pre-emptive action is not good: Population
Matters’ Olivia Nater has highlighted our apparent inability
to act until it’s too late for all environmental crises we
face today, from climate change to the 6th mass extinction [8].

The IPBES report warns that an estimated 1.7 million currently
undiscovered viruses are thought to exist in mammal and bird
hosts, between 540-850 thousand of which could potentially
infect humans [9]. There is a great risk that preference for
reaction over prevention will lead to people culling wildlife
& livestock populations in response to the threat, which
represents our destructive tendencies towards world domination.
Such responses present a bitter irony. We brought on this
pandemic, just like previous ones, by our disrespect of
nature and its biodiversity of flora and fauna [8].
Metaphorically, it can be said that we brought this
revenge of the virus on ourselves.

In December, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in his
“The State of the Planet” speech said: ”Humanity is waging
war on nature. This is suicidal. Nature always strikes back
– and it is already doing so with growing force and fury.
Biodiversity is collapsing. One million species are at risk
of extinction. Ecosystems are disappearing before our eyes...
Human activities are at the root of our descent toward chaos.
But that means human action can help to solve it” [12].

IPBES, alongside other international bodies and recent
scientific literature, urges the reduction of meat production
& consumption, reduced wildlife trade & better biodiversity
protection. It also calls for greater investments into
gender equality, universal access to family planning methods
& services & to education, including environmental education
[9]. But that is only the start. We must do more: This
pandemic can represent a paradigm shift in our thinking.
As Olivia Nater concluded in her article reflecting on 2020,
“Nature does not exist for us to exploit and destroy – we
are just one of millions of interconnected species whose
survival depends on a healthy environment” [8].

Seeking further war & striking back harder against nature
is precisely not what we should do. The only way to “win”
this war is to stop it. We must stop the interspecies
genocide we are committing & stop destroying the environment
that surrounds & supports us. We must retreat from some
positions we violently conquered from nature & give back
space for other species to flourish once again. Our retreat
will enable us to seek a truce, & eventually peace, with
nature & its species: a win-win scenario. The opposite
strategy, i.e. the continuing “attack of the humans” on
nature & spread of their populations, products & garbage is
apocalyptic for both humanity & nature.