Pandemia, biodiversidade, mudanças globais e bem-estar humano

Abstract

The planet is going through different, intertwined crises in the environmental, economic, and health dimensions, and are aggravated by a crisis in governance. But so many simultaneous crises also offer humanity the rare opportunity to redirect its development efforts toward a more sustainable model that uses less fossil fuels and makes less predatory use of natural resources. Viruses are a component of biodiversity and the most abundant biological entities on Earth. In megadiverse countries like Brazil, with high degrees of social vulnerability and environmental degradation, there is a high probability that new pathogens living in wild species will jump to human hosts. This is largely dependent on transmission scenarios, which are highly favorable in the wet markets of Asian countries, and much less so in the popular markets of Brazil, either because of our traditions in game meat consumption or because of our low population density when compared to Asian countries. In Brazil, expanding contact with new and unknown viruses is much more due to the continuous acceleration of the destruction of our biomes, and to the reduction, fragmentation and loss of habitats.. With regard to the harmful synergy between global climate change and species extinction rates, Homo sapiens has been the only species on the planet responsible for the pandemics of the last century and for the current Covid-19 pandemics. If, on one hand, biodiversity is the origin of viruses, undoubtedly it is also a great pharmacy and can be the source of new antimicrobials and antivirals. Nowadays, biodiversity is the origin of a great range of molecules for antivirals used in the treatment of HIV, herpes, hepatitis B and C, and influenza A and B. Currently, there are about 40 internationally approved compounds, but they are involved in the therapy of only 10 viruses. The situation is even more critical in the case of neglected diseases, where, due to lack of economic interest, there are not even continuous lines of research. Despite all the losses and instabilities experienced today, it is possible to see that the moment also allows us to learn from Covid-19, particularly in recognizing the existing link between biodiversity, ecosystem services, and human health.