News

News

(September 30, 2021) "The COVID-19 pandemic is a real wake-up call for the world," said WCS's Christian Sampler at this week's United Nations General Assembly side event. These types of spillovers have been happening and their frequency is increasing. Watch the special session on "Healthy Ecosystems for People and Planet" here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbWp9Hz7S4A

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(August 30, 2021) WCS's WildHealthNet project is supporting the governments of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia to build sustainable wildlife surveillance platforms with a One Health approach. The networks have already facilitated the rapid detection and response to avian influenza and African swine fever outbreaks. Greater investment in wildlife health should accompany vital efforts to combat deforestation, forest degradation, and wildlife trade, and reverse the devastating trajectory of ...

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(June 22, 2021)  The G7 (Group of Seven) is an organisation of the world's seven largest so-called advanced economies. They are Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the United States. Recently the leaders of these countries convened at the G-7 Summit in Cornwall, England where they made several important commitments addressing the interlinked existential crises facing our planet—climate change, biodiversity loss, and zoonotic pandemics. The renewed focus on nature by these nations is an ...

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(May 19, 2021) Veterinarian Dr Enkhtuvshin Shiilegdamba or "Enkee" is Director of WCS Mongolia's Country Program. For many years her work has recognized the interconnectedness between human, animal and environmental health and, as she tells PBS Nature in this blog, "We all understand now through COVID-19 that global pandemics can emerge at any time, and that the best prevention is based on a One Health approach that incorporates and protects health for the benefit of people, livestock, wildlife, and ...

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(May 11, 2021) Why is protecting biodiversity synonymous with protecting our own health? If spillover events themselves are inevitable, how can we limit the likelihood that they will become epidemics or pandemics? Where do commercial wildlife markets and subsistence hunting fit into the equation? Dr. Christian Walzer, Director of WCS' Health Program, spoke with "This PodCast will Kill You" to answer these and other questions on how biodiversity conservation reduces the risk of pandemics:COVID-19 Chap...

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