Description
The way our species interacts with others has the potential to affect not only their conservation and that of our environment, but also public health. Prominent authors have observed a rapidly increasing incidence of emerging zoonotic infectious diseases, with more than 70% of these events being caused by pathogens with a wildlife origin, such as Ebola virus, Nipah virus and SARS-CoV. However, the international response has typically been reactive, with insufficient attention on mechanisms to prevent pathogen spillover at source. In particular, the role of wildlife trade and markets, both legal and illegal, continues to be underestimated. The current international legal framework contains serious gaps that the Global Initiative to End Wildlife Crime (EWC) has been committed to address since its creation in June 2020. In this brief presentation, John Scanlon AO, Chair of EWC and former Secretary General of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), will explain the need for urgent reform of international wildlife and public health laws to reduce the risk of future zoonotic outbreaks.
Gaps in the current framework. The main international instrument dealing with trade in wild species, CITES, is designed to address the impact of such trade on the survival of species. It does not address the risk that regulated trade can pose to human or animal health. Further, while CITES regulates international trade in certain species, it does not regulate the taking of wild animals, the manner in which they are held before or after being transported, or how they are marketed, used or consumed. CITES only applies to species that are listed on its appendices on the basis of biological and trade criteria; risks to public or animal health are not included among CITES’ listing criteria. For example, the horseshoe bat, known to be a reservoir of potential emerging infectious diseases, is not listed under CITES, and trade in the species is therefore not regulated by the Convention. CITES currently includes approximately 40,000 species of animals and plants in its Appendices, representing less than 0.5% of the world’s species.
Suggested solutions. Since its inception, EWC has been advocating for and offering technical support towards the inclusion of public and animal health criteria in relevant international conventions and processes, including through the development and implementation of a robust Pandemic Agreement under the World Health Organization (WHO). Throughout the negotiations of this new instrument, EWC has engaged with governments and relevant stakeholders to highlight the importance of incorporating primary prevention (or ‘prevention at the source’) measures into the new Agreement. There is a clear and serious gap in the international legal framework for regulating the taking, holding, trade, marketing, use and consumption of wild animals that pose a risk to public health. The Pandemics Agreement could fill this gap by including measures to reduce the likelihood of harmful events resulting from the spillover of pathogens from animals to humans through wildlife trade and associated markets.
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