Month: April 2020

• Nearly 25,000 COVID-19 cases have been confirmed in Brazil, with 1,378 deaths as of April 15, though some experts say this is an underestimate. Those figures continue growing, even as President Jair Bolsonaro downplays the crisis, calling it “no worse than a mild flu,” and places the economy above public health.
• Scientists warn that the next emergent pandemic could originate in the Brazilian Amazon if Bolsonaro’s policies continue to drive Amazon deforestation rates ever higher. Researchers have long known that new diseases typically arise at the nexus between forest and agribusiness, mining, and other human development.
• One way deforestation leads to new disease emergence is through fire, like the Amazon blazes seen in 2019. In the aftermath of wildfires, altered habitat often offers less food, changing animal behavior, bringing foraging wildlife into contact with neighboring human communities, creating vectors for zoonotic bacteria, viruses and parasites.
• Now, Bolsonaro is pushing to open indigenous lands and conservation units to mining and agribusiness — policies which greatly benefit land grabbers. Escalating deforestation, worsened by climate change, growing drought and fire, heighten the risk of the emergence of new diseases, along with epidemics of existing ones, such as malaria.

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Our Germany wolf expedition has followed suit and joined the ranks of expeditions with no citizen science element in 2020 (see a previous post for details).

All citizen science elements are deferred to 2021. The 2020 dates for the expedition have come offline and the 2021 dates are now online. Plans for continuing the research work through a local mini expedition  are on our coronavirus appeal page. Please contribute to this if you can.

Our Tien Shan snow leopard expedition has now joined the ranks of expeditions with no citizen science element in 2020 (see a previous post for details).

All citizen science elements are deferred to 2021. The 2020 dates for the expedition have come offline and the 2021 dates are now online. Plans for continuing the research work through a local mini expedition  are on our coronavirus appeal page. Please contribute to this if you can.

As you have probably read, Germany is doing well with combating the virus and is thinking of starting to ease restrictions. However, travel restrictions are likely to stay in place for a good while yet and hotels (such as our expedition base) and other service industry locations are unlikely to re-open soon.

At the same time, and following the pattern of expeditions before, the majority of expeditioners have already opted to defer to Germany 2021 (18 – 24 July | 25 – 31 July) or to other expeditions in 2021.

Local staff and wolf commissioners are planning as we speak to continue wolf monitoring efforts. Details about their plans (and a call for donations to enable this) are on our coronavirus appeal page. So, in line with other expeditions so far, and because we stongly believe that conservation efforst must continue despite the crisis, we will continue the project and collect data as much and whenever possible, but, regrettably, it is now highly unlikely that there will be a citizen science element to the project in 2020.

Hopes that the pandemic will accelerate the transition to a cleaner world are already running into a political wall: the “shock doctrine” of disaster capitalism outlined by the author and activist Naomi Klein. In her book of the same name, the Canadian writer describes how a powerful global elite exploits national crises to push through unpopular and extreme measures on the environment and labour rights.

This is what is happening in the United States and elsewhere. Oil company executives have lobbied Donald Trump for a bailout. Under the cover of the crisis, the White House has rolled back fuel-economy standards for the car industry, the Environmental Protection Agency has stopped enforcing environmental laws, three states have criminalised fossil fuel protesters and construction has resumed on the KXL oil pipeline. The US government’s massive economic stimulus bill also included a $50bn bailout for aviation companies. Environmental groups are urging the UK and European Union not to do the same.

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Increased contact with animals likely cause of outbreaks such as Covid-19, say experts, as conservationists call for global ban on wildlife markets > Read more

Kyrgyzstan has declared a state of emergency and is in lockdown.

At the same time the majority citizen scientists have already opted to defer to Tien Shan 2021 (12 – 24 July or 26 July – 7 August 2021) or to other expeditions in 2021.

Our community monitoring group (see below), set up by Biosphere Expeditions with help from the Nando & Elsa Peretti Foundation over the last few years, is planning as we speak to continue monitoring for snow leopards. Details about their plans (and a call for donations to enable this) are on our coronavirus appeal page. So we will continue the project and collect data as much and whenever possible, but, regrettably, it is now highly unlikely that there will be a citizen science element to the project in 2020.

 

The scientific evidence and advice are now clear: Wear a mask in public!

If 80% of us do, there is strong scientific evidence to suggest that we can stop the pandemic in its tracks.

More about this and tips how to make your own mask on Masks4All.