Covid-19 a grim reminder of what Earth Day is all about, say experts

It was meant to be the biggest Earth Day yet, with mass public events planned to mark the 50th anniversary of the first one in 1970.

Instead, this year it saw more than a third of the world’s population under lockdown, with climate crisis analysts saying Covid-19 is a grim reminder of how environmental changes cause zoonotic diseases that pass from animals to humans.

In 1970, 20 million Americans came together to protest how people were treating the planet, and the events launched the modern-day environmental movement.

Mariam Mayet, director of the African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) in Johannesburg, says Covid-19 is a wake-up call to existing problems. She was representing Africa in a webinar organised to address climate change and Covid-19 in the Global South.

“Covid-19 epitomises deforestation and destruction of ecosystems, and how these impact human health and safety. This crisis has forced many of us in the food movement to look with new eyes to see who and what is responsible for the current contagion effect,” she said.

She said diseases like Covid-19 occur when “sudden changes in ecology and ecosystems collapse” and mechanisms in nature are “broken down”, leading to “shifts in equilibrium that result in viruses passing from animals to humans”.

Mayet said industrial agriculture has played a primary role in the climate crisis and the proliferation of greenhouse emissions, and that both Covid-19 and the locust infestation decimating crops in African countries were a result of this.

“Just because some industries are collapsing during the pandemic, it doesn’t mean other monsters won’t rear their heads in the future,” she warned.

Fellow panellist Jaybee Garganera, from Alliance Against Mining in the Philippines, was more optimistic, saying Covid-19 would lead to “more innovation, passion and commitment from environmental rights defenders”.

According to a recent study at the University of California, zoonotic diseases like Covid-19 are linked to environmental and climate change.

“Exploitation of wildlife by humans through hunting, trade, habitat degradation and urbanisation facilitates close contact between wildlife and humans, which increases the risk of virus spillover,” stated the research, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

“Spillover of viruses from animals is a direct result of our actions involving wildlife and their habitat,” said lead author Christine Kreuder Johnson.

“The consequence is they're sharing their viruses with us. These actions simultaneously threaten species survival and increase the risk of spillover. In an unfortunate convergence of many factors, this brings about the kind of mess we're in now.”

For the South African Food Sovereignty Campaign (SAFSC), Ramaphosa’s R500bn stimulus package should not distract us from the reality of what Earth Day seeks to highlight.

“We celebrate Earth Day to remind us all that the more harm done to our life-giving planet, the more it will strike back,” said the organisation in a statement.

“Disrespecting the delicate web of life on planet earth has given us Covid-19 and the worsening climate crisis.”

The campaign added that while the president's “historic R500bn stimulus package” was welcomed, it should not divert attention from the fact that his government was “reinforcing a carbon-based minerals energy complex” that would continue to adversely affect the environment.