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Public Calls for Governments to Close Southeast Asia’s Wildlife Markets in Response to COVID-19 CORONAVIRUS, WWF Survey Finds
- Date April 06, 2020
- Media Contact
- Elizabeth Davis 202-495-4415 elizabeth.davis@wwfus.org
- In This Press Release
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Hong Kong — This World Health Day, as the world grapples with the worst public health emergency in recent memory, over 90 percent of respondents surveyed in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong support a government-led closure of illegal and unregulated wildlife markets, according to new research for World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
The recent outbreak of COVID-19 CORONAVIRUS has brought the link between zoonotic diseases – those transmitted from animals to humans – and wildlife markets into sharp focus. A survey[1] conducted in March among 5,000 participants from Hong Kong SAR, Japan, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam found that 82 percent of respondents are extremely or very worried about the outbreak, with 93 percent of respondents in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong supporting action by their governments to eliminate illegal and unregulated markets.
Origination of Coronavirus
Questions remain about the exact origins of COVID-19, CORONAVIRUS, but the World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed it is a zoonotic disease, meaning it jumped from wildlife to humans. The Chinese government announced a comprehensive ban on the consumption of wild animals on 24 February. WWF’s research shows that citizens support similar actions from other governments across the region. This was the first survey of public opinion about the connection between COVID-19 and wildlife trade undertaken across Asia.
High-risk wildlife markets
“China has taken great steps prohibiting the hunting, trade, transport, and eating of wild animals, and Vietnam is working on similar directives,” said Christy Williams, Regional Director of WWF’s Asia Pacific program. “Other Asian governments must follow by closing their high-risk wildlife markets and ending this trade once and for all to save lives and help prevent a repeat of the social and economic disruption we are experiencing around the globe today.”
Nine percent of those surveyed by GlobeScan stated that they or someone they know had purchased wildlife in the past 12 months at an open wildlife market, but that 84 percent are unlikely or very unlikely to buy wildlife products in the future.
“The public in Asia have spoken – those living in countries where wildlife markets are most prevalent are demanding that wildlife consumption is curbed and illegal and unregulated wildlife trade is eliminated. People are deeply worried and would support their governments in taking action to prevent potential future global health crises originating in wildlife markets,” said Marco Lambertini, Director General of WWF International.
“It is time to connect the dots between wildlife trade, environmental degradation and risks to human health. Taking action now for humans as well as the many wildlife species threatened by consumption and trade is crucial for all of our survival.”
World Health Organization
WHO has reported that the current COVID-19 pandemic, along with at least 61 percent of all human pathogens, are zoonotic in origin – wildlife trade is an aggravating risk in the spread of zoonoses. Other recent epidemics, including SARS, MERS, and Ebola, have also all been traced back to viruses that spread from animals to people, known as a Zoonotic disease.
“COVID-19 is a global crisis and only a global response can ensure a pandemic like this never happens again,” said Jan Vertefeuille, Senior Advisor for Advocacy at WWF-US. “We’re calling on world leaders to support the closure of high-risk wildlife markets wherever they threaten public health and biodiversity and to take collective action: aid the countries that are trying to shut down this dangerous wildlife trade, invest in public education and consumer outreach to reduce demand for these products and fight wildlife trafficking around the world.”
Unsustainable wildlife trade is the second-largest direct threat to biodiversity globally, after habitat destruction. Populations of vertebrate species on earth declined by an average 60 percent since 1970, and a 2019 report from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) concluded that an average of 25 percent of global species are currently threatened with extinction.
Access the full report: WWF Opinion Survey on Covid-19 and Wildlife Trade in Five Asian Markets
Access the report summary.
The worst epidemics in recent history
- Date: April 06, 2020
The disease COVID-19 CORONAVIRUS has caused a health crisis worldwide. We don’t know the full and
the devastating reach of this pandemic yet, but we do understand how it underscores the destructive impacts of wildlife trade and consumption on human health and societies.
COVID-19, caused by the coronavirus, is a zoonotic disease, meaning it originated from an animal. The source of the outbreak is believed to have been a “wet market” in Wuhan, China, that sold live and dead wildlife and domestic animals, along with other foods for human consumption.
Such markets can be a living petri dish, with viruses shed by stressed animals warehoused together mixing with other bodily fluids in zoonotic conditions. When these often new or unknown viruses jump to people, the results can be catastrophic. https://www.worldwildlife.org https://www.cdc.gov
CDC
- COVID-19
*CORONAVIRUS - Ongoing
- Country of origin
- China
- Infected
- 1,214,466**
- Deaths
- 67,767**
- *Origin not yet determined
- **Data updated to April 6, 2020
- Seasonal flu
- annual
- global
- Infected
- 1,000,000,000
- Deaths
- between 123,000
and 203,000
- H7N9-Avian
- 2013
- Country of origin
- China
- Deaths
- 616
- Economic Costs
- $6.5 bn
- MERS
- 2012
- Country of origin
- Saudi Arabia
- Deaths
- 858
- Economic Costs
- $10 bn
- Swine H1N1
- 2009
- Country of origin
- USA
Mexico - Deaths
- 429
- Economic Costs
- $45-55 bn
- SARS
- 2002
- Country of origin
- China
- Deaths
- 774
- Economic Costs
- $40 bn
- H5N1-Avian
- 2003
- Country of origin
- China
- Deaths
- 455
- Economic Costs
- $40 bn
- Ebola
- 1976
- Country of origin
- Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Deaths
- 14,693
- Economic Costs
- $10 bn
World Wildlife Foundation
The amount of respondents who would support efforts by their governments and health ministries to close all illegal and unregulated markets selling animals from the wild.
Illegal and unregulated wildlife trade is widely known to be a major threat to the conservation of ecosystems, biodiversity, and endangered species. But the risks to people are not as well known by the general public. So, in many countries, high-risk wildlife markets can be found openly selling a myriad of species side by side for human consumption, traditional medicines, and luxury products.
Fortunately, the Chinese government took action after the COVID-19 outbreak to place a ban on wildlife consumption. If meaningfully enforced, the ban in China could be a game-changer. WWF urges other countries to quickly adopt similar prohibitions and regulations to reduce zoonotic disease risks and prevent future outbreaks. We are calling for urgent action to close high-risk markets and end illegal and unregulated wildlife trade that impacts biodiversity and threatens human health and our existence as we know it.
Animals Involved
Type of wildlife species purchased (by the respondent or someone known to them) in an open wildlife market in the past 12 months—Total 5 markets (443 respondents)
Live Birds Snakes Bats
34% 46% 20%
Civet Cats Turtles Pangolins Other
23% 15% 19% 4%
To gauge public opinion in places where such markets operate, WWF commissioned the GlobeScan market research firm to conduct a first of its kind survey among the general public in Hong Kong SAR, Japan, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. Between March 3 and 11, 2020, as COVID-19 was spreading globally, GlobeScan interviewed 5,000 respondents, surveying their sentiments on the coronavirus outbreak in their respective markets and their opinions on illegal and unregulated markets selling wildlife.
The results were overwhelming: 93% of respondents in the four regions with active wildlife markets—all locations surveyed except Japan (where there is less trade of wildlife for human consumption)—would support efforts by their governments and health ministries to close all illegal and unregulated markets selling wild animals.
Markets
Across all five markets, 79% felt that closing such illegal and unregulated markets, where wild animals are sold, would be effective at preventing similar pandemics from occurring in the future. And 84% said they were not likely to buy wildlife products from open wildlife markets in the future.
Ending the sale and consumption of high-risk and unsustainable wildlife products is critical to eliminating the root cause of the next pandemic. It will take a global concerted effort to mitigate these risks. Closing high-risk wildlife markets and stopping trade in high-risk species will help conserve biodiversity and ensure the sustainable use of wild resources.
“Urgent action is paramount to curtail future pandemics,” said Jan Vertefeuille, senior advisor, advocacy, WWF. “We know what needs to be done to help prevent future zoonotic pandemics, and we call on decision-makers everywhere to immediately and urgently undertake these steps to halt biodiversity loss and reduce the chances of another zoonotic pandemic.”
Read the full report and/or summary: Opinion Survey on COVID-19 and Wildlife Trade in Five Asian Markets
CORONAVIRUS SPREAD
THE CDC IS NOW SAYING THE CORONAVIRUS CAN TRAVEL 13 FEET. THE NIH IS WORKING ON A VACCINE. The NIH is saying the immunity is short-lived after you get over the coronavirus that still exists in the body for 29 days after recovery. A recovered person can get the virus, again and again, that is why a vaccine is so detrimental. A vaccine gives a person stronger immunity until they receive their next vaccination.
NIH stands for National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Beware getting the booster mRNA vaccine it compromised my systems healthy blood supply of Hemoglobin.
