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Starting date: October 2022
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The post CALL FOR APPLICATIONS for the M.Sc. Global Change Ecology appeared first on Global Change Ecology.

Although economic and social impacts are more apparent, the effects the pandemic has had on the environment and biodiversity are substantial. The Global Risks Report 2022 shows that, since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, risks such as human environmental damage, biodiversity loss, extreme weather, and climate action failure, have worsened by 7.8%, 8.4%, 22.7%, and 25.4%, respectively. Furthermore, climate change failure and extreme weather will soon become a critical threat to the world, followed by biodiversity loss, natural resources crises, and human environmental damage. These five represent 50% of the top ten most severe risks on a global scale.

Nonetheless, the risks are not isolated in themselves, generating repercussions to other risks and vice-versa. For instance, biodiversity losses impact not only their environment and habitats, but also have effects on livelihood crises, infectious diseases spread, and pollution harms to health, to mention a few. International cooperation is essential on directing efforts and resources to mitigate the current reality and potentially change future scenarios before those risks become irreversible or self-reinforcing.

For further insights, you can read the Global Risks Report 2022 clicking here, and watch below the Press Conference of The Global Risks Report 2022, where the speakers discuss key findings from the report:

The post The Global Risks Report 2022: A call for awakening appeared first on Global Change Ecology.

The last one and a half years have drastically shown how vulnerable mankind is on earth. The Covid-19 pandemic has revealed the many problems we face today but also in the future. Since Covid-19 disease originates from zoonotic coronavirus, there is a strong linkage between humans, animals, and the environment. Experts suggest that the 2019 pandemic outbreak was not the last one to come [1]. In order to tackle the problem and to be prepared for the future an integrated perspective is required. This is where the One Health approach comes into play.

What is the One Health approach?

Created in 2005, the One Health concept incorporates a multisector expertise and follows a holistic and transdisciplinary approach [2]. Generally speaking, health refers to the wellbeing of the physical, mental, and social status. But because the health issues are broad and complex, the One Health approach primarily focuses on health crisis related to ecological and environmental drivers and underscores the interconnectedness of health between humans, animals, plants, and the environment where they inhabit. It holds that to achieve ultimate human health, animals, plants, and environmental health needs to be addressed as well. Health threats shared by people, animals and the environment including zoonotic diseases, antimicrobial resistance, food safety and food security, vector-borne diseases, and environmental contamination are all common One Health issues [3].

Example of One Health – Antimicrobial Resistance

One example of applying the One Health approach in combating global health crisis is addressing antimicrobial resistance (AMR). In order to protect humans, livestock and agricultural production from bacterial infection, drugs containing antibiotics and antimicrobial agents have been widely used across the world. However, the pervading use of antimicrobial drugs has given rise to the microorganisms’ capability to adapt to those drugs. Consequently, the antimicrobial-resistant bacteria continue to harm human and animal health. What is worse, the antibiotics provide opportunities for zoonotic bacteria to develop resistance genes while transmitting to human bodies via food sources (e.g. meat products), direct animal contact, and contaminated environmental sources [4]. Facing the rapidly increasing threat posed by AMR, transdisciplinary collaboration and intersectoral countermeasures must come into force, such as the One Health approach.

Following this transdisciplinary approach, several organizations raise awareness of AMR. For instance, the World Health Organization developed the Global Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance System (GLASS), which drives local, national, and regional action. Laying the main focus on the collection, analysing and sharing of AMR data on global level, decision making on different levels should get enhanced [4,5].

According to the latest report, 109 countries and territories worldwide have enrolled in the Surveillance System until May 2021. The Assessment shows that GLASS significantly helped to foster the development of national AMR surveillance systems. As next steps it is aimed to enhance the completeness and quality of data [6].

Outlook

Most likely the Covid-19 pandemic has not been the last zoonotic disease posing a threat to humans. Close collaboration of different domains will be a key contribution for solving and preventing further crisis. The One Health Approach seems therefore a good possibility to tackle health related challenges in the future. Especially the holistic approach entails many opportunities for solutions on the global, national and local level. However more applicable frameworks should be provided, in order to enable a better implementation by different stakeholders with varied interests and interpretations of the One Health approach. Effective performance of One Health initiatives at all levels could hardly be achieved without developing more coherent and endurable frameworks for the increasingly diversified practitioners.

References

[1] Zowalaty, M. E., & Järhult, J. D. (2020). From SARS to COVID-19: A previously unknown SARS- related coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) of pandemic potential infecting humans – Call for a One Health approach. One Health, 9, 100124. doi: 10.1016/j.onehlt.2020.100124

[2] Destoumieux-Garzón, D., Mavingui P, Boetsch G, Boissier J, Darriet F, Duboz P, Fritsch C, Giraudoux P, Le Roux F, Morand S, Paillard C, Pontier D, Sueur C and Voituron Y (2018). The One Health Concept: 10 Years Old and a Long Road Ahead. Front. Vet. Sci. 5:14. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2018.00014

[3] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2018). National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases. One Health Basics. Last viewed 23.07.2021 from https://www.cdc.gov/onehealth/basics/index.html

[4] Schneider, M. C., Munoz-Zanzi, C., Min, K and Aldighieri, S. (2019). “One Health” From Concept to Application in the Global World. Global Public Health. doi: 10.1093/acrefore/9780190632366.013.29

[5] WHO (2021). Global Antimicrobial Resistance and Use Surveillance System (GLASS). Last viewed 27.07.2021 from https://www.who.int/initiatives/glass

[6] Global antimicrobial resistance and use surveillance system (GLASS) report 2021. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2021. Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO.

The post The One Health approach to mitigate global health crisis related to ecological and environmental drivers appeared first on Global Change Ecology.

“A Life on Our Planet” is a 2020 documentary where David Attenborough talks about ecosystem restoration, ecology, climate change, and evolutionary history by recounting some of his adventures world-wide during his 93 years of life. The film starts in the ruins of the Ukranian city where nuclear power station of Chernobyl exploded in 1986. As it presents that tragedy as the biggest environmental catastrophe in the history of mankind, resulting from bad planning and human errors, Attenborough connects this to a currently unfolding tragedy: the loss of Earth’s wild places and their biodiversity.

After the audience receives this context for the film, we are taken on a historical trip starting in 1937. David explains about extinction events, the Holocene (our time), and how biodiversity is key to the stability of the planet. To me, it is wonderful how the various organisms from different ecosystems across the world are contributing to the functioning of the Earth, just by developing their “instinctive” function/activity. How marvelous is that?

As the historical trip continues through a catalogue of years, we are introduced to data about that year’s population, atmospheric CO2, and the percentage of the remaining wilderness in the planet. In 1937, human population included 2.3 billion people. In the Earth´s atmosphere, CO2 levels were at 280 ppm. On the ground, there were still 66% of natural places, i.e., land without human interference. 83 years later, in 2020, we find 7.8 billion inhabitants of the Earth, 415 ppm of atmospheric CO2, and only 35% of remaining wilderness.

Contrasting technological advancement and the records of his previous documentaries, such as “The Blue Planet” and “Frozen Place”, David shows how nature was back then and how humans transformed the environment, leading up to the consequences we face today: temperature rise, pollution and biodiversity loss. We are presented to dual future scenarios. In one, we could use our intellectual power to revert the damaging trend that we see now. In the other, we see the consequences that could happen if we don´t start acting now in favor of nature. Which should we choose?

A stable planet is a livable planet. To safeguard our current levels of stability, we need to protect and restore biodiversity. A term used in the film that I personally liked was to “rewild the world”. Protecting species, restoring ecosystems, using renewable energy, sustainable farming and much more! These things are already happening. For instance, Morocco has today the largest solar farm in the world and supplies 40% of their energy demand from the Sun. We can also look to the Netherlands, which has been successfully applying technologies to produce food vertically, reducing demand for land, water and pesticides, as well as lowering carbon emissions. These incredible practices show that sustainability is possible. The conflicting dichotomy between technology and nature can, in fact, become an extraordinary partnership instead.

By the end of the movie, we go back to the city where the Chernobyl disaster occurred. An area now without human interference whatsoever has been taken back by forest trees and wildlife. Nature has the power reestablish itself, when it is not being constantly destroyed. To reverse the ecological damages the planet has been going through, we must act now, with wisdom and willpower.

I will not give any more details about this film here. What I will say is… go and watch it ASAP! “A Life on Our Planet” is one of those precious films that, in a simple structure, brings a lot of understanding about global change to anyone who watches it. Inspirational and at the same time heartbreaking, it serves as a wake-up call for all of us, inhabitants of this land.

The post Rewild the World: A Life on Our Planet Review appeared first on Global Change Ecology.