In Brazil, President Jair Bolsonaro's policy is a disaster for the Amazon. However, in the midst of the global Covid-19 pandemic, it is essential to remember the links between the appearance of diseases and environmental disasters.
In March 2020, we mentioned research estimating that the Amazon rainforest could disappear in half a century. Since the arrival of Jair Bolsonaro at the head of Brazil, deforestation rates in the Amazon have only increased. In 2019, deforestation even reached its highest level in ten years.
However, there is a hypothesis concerning a link between the appearance of new diseases near forests and deforestation. The sectors affected by these diseases are logically agro-industry and mining, among others.
The information site Mongabay published an article on April 15, 2020 explaining the various factors that can prove this hypothesis. According to this publication, the next great pandemic could be caused by the rapid deforestation of the Amazon.
In August 2019, international zoonosis experts visited Colombia. The goal? Measuring the impact of ongoing forest fires in the Amazon on diseases transmitted to humans by animals. According to researchers, the Amazon is a region endemic to many diseases transmissible or zoonotic. However, after a forest fire, selection for survival can take place and change the habitat and behavior of certain animals. They can therefore more easily infect humans.
In Brazil, the links between disease and environmental catastrophe have already been established. In 2015, for example, the tailings dam of the iron mines of Mariana (Minas Gerais) caused a sharp increase in cases of yellow fever over the next two years. It turns out that the mudslides had a strong impact on the animals living in the watershed, making them less resistant to disease. Thus, many monkeys contracted yellow fever and mosquitoes then took charge of transmitting it to humans.
Heavy deforestation is a source of disease spread. This has been proven with malaria, again in areas around the Amazon. You should know that mosquitoes love recently cleared patches of forest. There are also forest edges in general, where there are high temperatures and stagnant water present in quantity.
We recently mentioned a link between climate disturbances and fires and an increased risk regarding the appearance of pandemics. However, these events disrupt the migratory routes of animals. In other words, some animal species potentially carrying viruses migrate to areas that are usually cooler and come closer to humans.
