Coronavirus - How Did We Get Here?

It is Spring 2020 and the trees are blossoming and slowly but surely the Coronavirus is bringing the world to a halt. With this pandemic, global warming trends and winter floods in the UK, it is starting to feel like the end of days. As environmental scientists we have seen the trends that have brought us to this difficult place.  Will the virus impel the changes the world needs to make to reduce the risk of future pandemics? 

I see the genesis of novel viruses (those that jump from animals to humans) arising from two factors:
-   The exploitation of wild animals as food; and
- The health, safety and welfare of domestic animals destined for human    consumption.

Of the most recent novel viruses, they have crossed the animal human barrier due to these two factors.  The Wuhan market traded in wild animals used in food in China.  The Chinese have a long and vexing tradition, deeply embedded in cultural beliefs and norms, of using wild animals as both medicine and food.  While they are signatories of CITES ( The Convention on Trade in Endangered Species), there seems to be little enforcement of it and little regulatory control at the national level. 

Coronavirus seems to be impelling them to act, but will they, and will they enforce?  We in the west are complicit in Chinese destruction of wildlife as we are happy to take their cheap goods and ignore the many actions that result in harm to nature. 

The second factor is the health, safety and welfare practices in relationship to livestock:  intensive rearing of livestock results in many unsavoury outcomes.  However, for SARS and MERs, two earlier novel viruses, the intensive rearing in proximity to humans resulted in a virus jumping the species barrier.  Whilst SARS and MERS proved less harmful than Coronavirus will probably be, the continuation of intensive livestock rearing will continue to be a risk factor in novel virus pandemics.

But what ultimately drives these practices?  It is the eating of animals.  I am not arguing for pure vegetarianism, but if we reduced our consumption of animal products, and insisted that livestock was reared in human conditions, the risk of novel viruses would be greatly reduced. 

We cannot directly change Chinese cultural norms.  But given China’s role in the world economy, surely it is now time to put economic pressure on China, and in this way we can act.  We can change our consumption of meat and reduce or eliminate it from our diet.  And put pressure on our politicians for global change to improve livestock health and welfare norms.