COP26 Presents Historic Opportunity To Stamp Out The Next Pandemic Before It Starts

Research shows that protecting forests and transforming agriculture soaks up carbon and reduces disease spillover from animals to humans 

The link between climate action and pandemic prevention are surprisingly absent from the top of the Glasgow climate agenda--despite the strong role climate action can play in preventing the spread of infectious diseases. Below are the events, experts available for interviews, and resources from government officials, experts, and Indigenous leaders including Dr, Jane Goodall, urging climate action for pandemic prevention at COP26.

The Coalition on Preventing Pandemics at the Source, a group of leading global environmental, public health and human rights organizations and experts, is urging governments to commit $10 billion per year for pandemic prevention at the source. Pandemic prevention actions such as reducing deforestation also help to combat climate change whilst saving lives from infections. These actions would cost far less than one percent of the cost of fighting COVID-19 alone.

EVENTS
November 2 at 16:00 GMT
What: Nature+ Newsroom media panel featuring: Nonette Royo, Executive Director, The Tenure Facility; Dr. Nigel Sizer, Executive Director, Preventing Pandemics at the Source Coalition; Dr. Aaron Bernstein, Interim Director, Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and leader of the Scientific Task Force for Preventing Pandemics at the Source.
Where: Livestreamed on https://globalcommonsalliance.org/natures-newsroom/

November 9 at 11:30 GMT
What: Jane Goodall interview with Nature+ Newsroom on intersection between climate, pandemics and nature
Where: Livestreamed on https://globalcommonsalliance.org/natures-newsroom/

November 9 at 18:15-19.45 GMT; RSVP: jo.evans@dalberg.com
What: Climate Change and Pandemics: Two Crises, One Nature-Based Solution, a high-level roundtable featuring leaders from the Global Environment Facility Secretariat (GEF) and the Coalition to Prevent Pandemics at the Source. Participants: H.E. Per Olsson Fridh, Swedish Minister for International Development Cooperation; Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, CEO and Chairperson, Global Environment Facility; H.E. Professor Lee White, Gabon’s Minister of Water and Forests, the Sea and Environment; Juma Xipaia, Leader of the Xipaia Community, Brazil; Nonette Royo, Executive Director, The Tenure Facility; Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, President of the Association for Indigenous Women and Peoples of Chad; Dr. Nigel Sizer, Executive Director, Preventing Pandemics at the Source Coalition
Where: GEF/GCF Pavilion (#92), Hall 5, COP 26 Blue Zone, Glasgow; Or register for livestream at preventingfuturepandemics.org/cop26climateandpandemics

QUOTES

H.E. Per Olsson Fridh, Minister for International Development Cooperation, Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs: “We live in a world where we have a number of parallel crises that are intertwined and playing out at the same time. And, with us soon to be halfway through the Sustainable Development Goals and the Agenda 2030, it is about time that the solutions that we present are as integrated as the crisis we are witnessing. These crises are a painful but vital reminder of the importance for us to work in a holistic way. We need to instead of driving degradation of biodiversity and extreme weather, we need to be drivers of restoration of rights-based recovery, of resilience of our ecosystems and of our livelihoods.”

Dr. Aaron Bernstein, Director of Harvard Chan C-CHANGE; Leader of the Scientific Task Force for Preventing Pandemics at the Source: "To avoid another COVID-19, we cannot invest only in drugs and vaccines to contain pandemics after they emerge— we must invest in preventing them before they begin. Actions that target the root causes of pandemics such as stopping the spillover of diseases from animals to humans and conserving tropical forests will protect our health, improve equity, help stabilize the climate, and come at a fraction of the cost of what it has taken to respond to COVID-19."

Dr. Nigel Sizer, Executive Director, Preventing Pandemics at the Source initiative: “The good news is that we know what needs to be done to protect forests to reduce the risk of future spillovers, and that these solutions are many times more cost effective than paying to respond to global pandemic and mitigating the terrible effects of climate change. The solutions are ready, but we need our political leaders to act now, and work together to invest in true prevention of pandemics at the source.”

Nonette Royo, Executive Director, The Tenure Facility: “Protecting tropical forests has a direct impact on global health by mitigating climate change and preventing zoonotic disease transfer. Indigenous Peoples and local communities, through their tested governance of their land, territories, and resources on which they live and depend upon, provide critical inputs to the strategy for protecting our health and the state of our environment.”

Juma Xipaia, Leader of the Xipaya Community, Brazil: “Juma Xipaya, Xipaya Community, Brazil: The COVID-19 pandemic has devastated indigenous communities around the Amazon rainforest, who were already reeling from the impacts of environmental degradation and climate change. What is urgently needed is to act to save the forest. To defend not only indigenous peoples, but the existence of human beings on planet Earth."

Dr. Cristián Samper, President and CEO, Wildlife Conservation Society: “It is vital that we escape from the siloed thinking that separates efforts to protect forests, biodiversity and the climate from addressing the global public health crisis. Common solutions to these challenges are in plain sight, starting with protecting remaining intact tropical forests. COP 26 is a key moment to make these connections.”

Resources

Visit preventingfuturepandemics.org/cop26climateandpandemics for full set of resources, including:

• New video explaining climate-pandemic risk.
• TEDxDalbergCatalyst video: Dr Nigel Sizer - The Climate Crisis and Pandemics: A Common Solution
• Report of the Scientific Task Force of Preventing Pandemics at the Source.
• Summary of analysis by the Coalition to Prevent Pandemics at the Source: Interventions to Prevent Pathogen Spillover and Curb Early Transmission Among Domestic Animals and Humans
• Letter by members of the Preventing Pandemics at the Source Coalition in The Lancet Planetary Health about the urgent need for integrated pandemic policies on pathogen spillover.
• Video message from Jane Goodall on the interconnectedness between planetary and human health.

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