With seventy-five percent of all emerging infectious diseases in humans caused from animals, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has come with a major programme for mapping zoonotic threat and protecting the environment to reduce the risk of future pandemics.
The UNEP in its latest programme “Working with the Environment to Protect People’ laid out how it is working to “build back better” through stronger science, policies that back a healthier planet and more green investments. It said that COVID-19 is a reminder that human health and the health of the planet are one and the same. It also mentioned that human activity altered every corner of the Earth, bringing humans into contact with new vectors. The UNEP pointed out that a healthy planet was critical to rebound from Coronavirus and to prevent future zoonotic diseases.
In its “Working with the Environment to Protect People”, the UNEP says that it will focus on
1. Transformational change for nature and people
- improved science and policy – Designing a risk and response programme to improve the ability of countries to reduce zoonotic threats.
- More investment in nature for improved human health, poverty reduction, livelihood recovery and sustainable socio-economic recovery
- Science, technical support and advocacy to ensure progress on environmental issues
- Raising awareness of the links between nature, health and sustainable living
- E Continued learning.
2. Investing to build back better
- Reaching real economy actors to rebuild, scale up and accelerate sustainable consumption and product and create new green jobs
- Linking recovery efforts with the clean energy transition, nature-based solutions and the Paris Agreement.
- Supporting governments to rebuild the next generation of social, ecological and productive infrastructure
3.Modernizing global environmental governance,
- Evaluate opportunities for intergovernmental bodies with respect to virtual meetings
- Examine and work to overcome logistical challenges to move to online platform.
