The story is already familiar: the human interference in nature can lead to ecological imbalance and transmit diseases from the heart of the forest. How to alert the scientist David Lapola, with the degradation of amazon, The The next big pandemic could emerge in Brazil.
According to the researcher, “the Amazon is a pot of viruses”. And by devastating it, we are testing our own luck, he adds. A largest rainforest in the world it still has large preserved areas, but “there is more and more degradation, more deforestation”, observes Lapola.
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“When you generate this ecological imbalance, you change these chains and at that time this jump of the virus [from animals to humans] can happen”, clarifies the researcher, in an interview with AFP.
With training in Ecology, Lapola recalls that in past decades the world has already suffered from the HIV virus, Ebola and
dengue. “It was all virus that ended up either arising or spreading in a very large way from ecological imbalances”.And the ecologist says that, according to studies, this transmission happens more frequently in the south of Asia and on Africa, where most bat families are located, but that the biodiversity of the Amazon could qualify the region as “the largest repository of coronavirus of the world".
"It's not the fault of the bats, it's not about killing bats over there", clarifies the scientist from the Center for Meteorological and Climate Research Applied to Agriculture at the State University of Campinas (Unicamp).
"It's one more among 'n' other reasons for us not to make this irrational use that is now increasing even more of the Amazon, our largest forest", he stresses.
“Refound” the relationship with the forest
Lapola recalls that the current scenario, with the spread of the coronavirus, which has already resulted in 13,200 deaths in Brazil (data updated on May 14), complicates even more the guard of the tropical forest, already in threat.
“First we have to tackle this health crisis and all the effort has to go towards that (…) But it is worrisome because we are having a very expressive increase now, it is not yet the season of deforestation”, he says.
The number represents a 55% increase compared to the same period in 2019, when President Jair Bolsonaro received harsh criticism in Brazil and the world for minimizing the progress of the fires that reached record extensions of forest.
Bolsonaro, who legitimizes the opening of the Amazon to mining and farming, this week sent a military contingent to curb deforestation. The numbers will prove whether this was a successful strategy, says Lapola.
“The most serious issue is that we use the Army for anything and everything in Brazil. This shows a bit of a certain crisis in our institutions and an unequipped IBAMA”, he points out.
“It has been proven that the issue of deforestation is susceptible to those who govern us. The good news is that governments are fleeting. I hope that in the next administration more attention will be paid to this issue and that we will treat this enormous, perhaps the greatest, biological treasure on the planet with more zeal”, he explains.
From the scientist's perspective, it is also necessary to “refound society's relationship with forests”. Lapola emphasizes that, although the spread of new diseases from the heart of the forest is “a very complex process for us to be able to predict, it is better to use the precautionary principle and not test the our fate”.
*With information from AFP
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