Why addressing wildlife trade is crucial to protect health

We address wildlife trade to contribute to better health wherever humans and wildlife intersect, also to prevent zoonotic spillover from wildlife to humans, which could lead to pandemics. The Alliance does that by contributing to more knowledge and wider distribution thereof, as well as a better understanding of and improved regulations of the entire wildlife trade spectrum. ​​To achieve this, we bring diverse stakeholders together to share knowledge and perspectives, synthesise these and translate them into guidance for political processes and governments. 

Why do we focus on wildlife trade? 

Three quarters of new infectious diseases come from animals, the majority of which originate in wildlife. About 700.000 unknown viruses are estimated to exist in wild mammals and birds which have the potential to spill over to humans, possibly causing new deadly outbreaks, epidemics and ultimately pandemics. The Covid-19 pandemic, but also disastrous regional outbreaks like Ebola, Mpox or avian influenza are examples that show how devastating and costly emerging infectious disease outbreaks can be – health wise and economically. For example, SARS 2003 hit China in 2003, markets were closed and public life stalled for a few weeks. But afterwards, the long-term health measures and handling of wildlife were not changed. 16 years later, Covid-19 hit the world, with likely the same or a very similar origin of the virus – a spillover that could have been prevented based on the learnings of 2003. This is why primary prevention – preventing spillover events at the source, before zoonotic pathogens can jump over from wildlife to humans – is of such importance to avoid costly disease emergence. 

About 700,000 viruses in wild mammaks and birds have the potential to jump over to humans.

The good news is human behaviour offers many critical control points to prevent new spillover events. Yet the potential of prevention at the source, especially at the human-wildlife interface, is still largely unexploited. 

Of course, pandemic prevention is a wide field with many possible points of intervention. Spillover prevention addresses all drivers and practices that bring humans and animals – both livestock and wildlife – into contact: ecosystem disturbances, such as deforestation, and biodiversity loss, but also intensive animal production, legal and illegal wildlife trade, as well as trade with wild-caught and captive-bred animals and their products, whether dead or alive. It addresses all scenarios of livestock-wildlife contact and human-wildlife co-existence. 

Wildlife trade – including the consumption of wildlife – is the Alliance’s focus because it is generally not sufficiently included in pandemic prevention efforts – if at all – even though wildlife is the most important source of newly emerging pathogens. In addition, coordination of preventive actions is difficult and remains largely an open flank in the international community, due to the complex and cross-sectoral character of health risks from wildlife trade. 

For this reason, the International Alliance against Health Risks in Wildlife Trade focuses its efforts on filling these gaps – by piloting solutions and providing a platform and advisory services that facilitate the necessary interdisciplinary work on an international level.  

One Health and Wildlife 

The Alliance works through the One Health approach. One Health is an integrated, unifying approach that aims to sustainably balance and optimise the health of people, animals and ecosystems. It recognises the health of humans, domestic and wild animals, plants, and the wider environment (including ecosystems) are closely linked and interdependent. The approach mobilises multiple sectors, disciplines and communities at varying levels of society to work together to foster well-being and tackle threats to health and ecosystems, while addressing the collective need for healthy food, water, energy, and air, taking action on climate change, and contributing to sustainable development. 

Primary prevention vs. pandemic reaction 

Addressing zoonotic spillover at the source is much cheaper and more efficient than treating symptoms and it comes with many benefits at different levels. Compared to the estimated two trillion US dollars that the Covid-19 Pandemic has cost our economy globally, the costs for primary prevention remain low, even when significantly scaled up compared to the current level. 

The illustration shows where primary prevention is located along the chain of outbreak escalation. 


(Source: adapted from Bernstein, A and others, 2022)

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