Rapid deforestation and declining biodiversity could lead to new deadly pandemics.
According to The Observer, British scientists have come to this conclusion after a long research.
According to them, the rapid destruction of forests, uncontrolled expansion of agricultural lands, the construction of mines in remote areas, the exploitation of wild animals as food, traditional medicine or exotic pets play the role of a "perfect storm" for the direct transmission of diseases from wildlife to humans.
Scientists claim that almost two-thirds of the resulting diseases are caused by changes in the use of land. As a result, five to six new pandemics may occur every year, which will affect the world's population.
They say tens of millions of hectares of forest and natural habitat are bulldozed every year for planting palm trees, setting up cattle farms, extracting oil and mining. This leads to the destruction of the natural life of the vegetation, most of which are countless viruses and bacteria that have not yet been scientifically determined. These microbes, like animals and humans, can spread to new "shelters." This is called an "infection" and results in new diseases.
Scientists say another source of infection is workers. According to them, when workers go to the forests to cut down trees, they do not take food with them, they hunt what they find here. Therefore, they are constantly exposed to infections.
In addition, where trees are cut down, vacant plots of land around old forests around fields increase the connection between wildlife and domestic animals. Bats, rodents and other pests carrying strange new viruses come to the villages from forest remnants, infecting animals and transmitting them to humans.