Earth Day is an annual event celebrated around the world on April 22, to demonstrate support for environmental protection and represents a day of action to shift human behaviour and provoke policy changes. The very first celebration took place in 1970, and by now it grew to a staggering global event with celebrations in more than 193 countries involving over a billion people.
Given the urgency of the shared challenge we are facing on Earth, the main objective of this webinar would be to present the link between environmental issues and the current health crisis (COVID-19). The emphasis would be on two main drivers: i) rapid urbanization and ii) loss of biodiversity and ecosystems, as well as the consequences: hotspots of zoonotic diseases. The conversation will address how population density, population size, and airline connections explain the rapid spread of COVID-19, and will also touch on the ways the global response is providing evidence that coordinated environmental interventions (such as climate or pollution mitigation efforts) can be effective. Moving forward with the reality of a world in which COVID-19 plays a central role, we will focus on cities and how mapping vulnerable populations can be instrumental for decision making.
Discussants:
Peter Daszak
Future Earth oneHEALTH Global Research Project SSC Chair, and Health Knowledge-Action Network Steering Committee member
Dr. Peter Daszak is President of EcoHealth Alliance, a US-based organization that conducts research and outreach programs on global health, conservation and international development. Dr. Daszak’s research has been instrumental in identifying and predicting the origins and impact of emerging diseases across the globe. This includes identifying the bat origin of SARS, the drivers of Nipah virus emergence, publishing the first global emerging disease ‘hotspots’ map, discovering SADS coronavirus, designing a strategy to identify the number of unknown viruses in wildlife, launching the Global Virome Project, identifying the first case of a species extinction due to disease, and discovering the disease chytridiomycosis as the cause global amphibian declines. He is one of the founders of the field of Conservation Medicine and has been instrumental in the growth of EcoHealth, One Health, and now Planetary Health.
Timon McPhearson
Future Earth Urban Knowledge-Action Network, Co-chair
Dr. Timon McPhearson is Associate Professor of Urban Ecology, Director of the Urban Systems Lab, and research faculty at the Tishman Environment and Design Center at The New School. He is also a Research Fellow at The Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies and Associate Research Fellow at Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University. He studies the ecology in, of, and for cities to advance resilience, sustainability, and justice. He publishes in scientific journals such as Nature, Nature Climate Change, and BioScience, in books (e.g. Urban Planet, forthcoming from Cambridge University Press), and in popular press (e.g. The Nature of Cities). He co-leads the U.S. National Science Foundation “Urban Resilience to Extreme Weather Related Events” Sustainability Research Network (UREx SRN) in the US and Latin America and teaches courses on urban resilience, urban social-ecological-technological systems, and urban green infrastructure.
Tolullah Oni
Future Earth, Advisory Committee member
Dr. Tolullah Oni is an urban epidemiologist and public health physician at the Medical Research Council Epidemiology Unit at the University of Cambridge. She is also an Honorary Associate Professor in Public Health at the University of Cape Town and leads the Research Initiative for Cities Health and Equity (RICHE). Her research focuses on transdisciplinary urban health, generating evidence to support healthy urban development and public policies in rapidly growing cities, supporting a coordinated approach between science, policy and societal role players to identify creative strategies that address complex urban population health challenges. She has received several awards in recognition of her research contribution including the South African National Science and Technology Forum (NSTF) Emerging Researcher award, and the Carnegie Corporation “Next Generation of African Academics award.
Dr. Sylvia Wood
Future Earth, Science Officer
Dr. Sylvia Wood is a Science Officer at Future Earth’s Montreal Hub working on the Science-based Pathways for Sustainability initiative and the Global Risks Perceptions Initiative. In light of the current global pandemic, she is co-leading a new survey COVID-19: Where do we go from here? with partners at the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment, which aims to capture the general public’s perception of the risks and opportunities which this crisis has opened up for our transition to a more resilient, sustainable and equitable world.