Wildlife Trade, COVID-19 and Zoonotic Disease Risks: Shaping the Response

As the coronavirus crisis continues to cause mass human mortality and socio-economic disruption around the globe, policymakers must remain focused on real solutions to address this pandemic and future zoonotic disease outbreaks. In a report, TRAFFIC explores the links between conservation, the wildlife trade, and disease outbreaks like COVID-19–as well as what solutions can be implemented to mitigate risks to both humans and the natural world.

“Two key factors are ‘what’ animal species present the greatest risk of being a source of human disease and ‘where’ disease transmission is a particularly high risk,” the report states. “Development of appropriate short- and long-term solutions would be strengthened by better insights into the specific origins of the COVID-19 outbreak and into wider questions of zoonosis risk and management strategy.”