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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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(April 13, 2021) "We have not co-evolved with these species," WCS's Dr. Christian Walzer tells podcast host Bill Nye regarding wildlife found in markets, "so we have not had thousands of years to acquire these diseases, build antibodies against them or make them uniquely our own." This gives such novel pathogens in humans greater pandemic potential. Combined with the co-mixing of multiple species and often stressful conditions along market trade chains, these unnatural interfaces between live wildlife, domestic ...

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(April 01, 2021) In our Spring newsletter, the stories remind us that animal, human and environmental health are inextricably linked. Read more about animal pandemics impacting wildlife and livestock, protecting biodiversity for pandemic prevention, domestic dogs and conservation, molecular science discoveries and more:ONE WORLD - ONE HEALTH NEWS: Spring 2021Sign up for our quarterly newsletters here

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(February 17, 2021) "We’re altering environments in ways we don’t really understand or appreciate until we have an event like the COVID-19 pandemic that makes us reassess our relationship with nature." WCS Health Programs' Sarah Olson spoke with The Scientist: Are Climate-Driven Shifts in Bat Diversity to Blame for COVID-19?Image:  © ISTOCK, VONKARA1 

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(February 17, 2021) The WCS Education team recently created a Field Sight story with the WCS Health Program exploring the One World-One Health initiative, engaging students in how diseases spread in wild populations and from wildlife to humans, thinking about how we are interconnected with nature even in urban environments, and considering actions we can take at home to make a difference in global health. The curriculum even includes a "Spillover" game for students to understand how healthy intact ecosystems c...

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