COVID-19, the global pandemic that will perhaps define us for generations to come is here for a reason. Our disregard for the natural world at large, wanton industrial scale destruction and abuse of flora and fauna alike, has made cross-species disease transmission much more likely.

At the time of writing, there are over 3.3 million global COVID-19 cases with a staggering total death toll of over 238,000 according to John Hopkins University’s Coronavirus Resource Center. A once in a century event that is testing every nation’s health system and pushing economies the world over to their breaking points. Unprecedented, uncertain and sobering times indeed.

World renowned environmentalist and primatologist Dr Jane Goodall hopes that the coronavirus pandemic will serve as a wake-up call for humanity’s global disregard for nature and animals which she sees as the source of the crisis. Existing viruses such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) have crossed the barrier from animals to humans and have been linked back to live animal markets (or wet markets) in China. It’s little surprise that the world is facing a pandemic of the same sort given that these animal trade practices have continued.

“We have to learn to think differently about how we interact with the natural world. And one of the problems is that as more and more forests have disappeared, so animals themselves have come in closer contact with each other” Goodall said.

“Most of these viruses that jumped to us have come through an intermediary. So there’s a reservoir host like a bat and in [the case of COVID-19] it’s thought to have jumped into a pangolin and then into us.”

For the everyday inner-city dweller, our treatment of animals and wildlife is most probably not on our mind when we get on the daily commute to go to work. But funnily enough it takes a global pandemic to make us literally stop going to work (physically) or lose our jobs outright, or even die for that matter. Now cooped up in our homes in isolation for weeks on end, it gives everyone a momentary pause to think about the source of it all: animals and wildlife. It’s the classic case of the builders rejecting the stone that turned out be the cornerstone.

For the record, it’s clear that COVID-19 did come from wildlife. Veterinarian and environmental scientist Dr Hume Field, known for his work in determining the SARS virus, says there’s no need for us to manufacture this [COVID-19] virus since it exists in nature as it is. Dr Field said

from a scientific point of view, that argument that it’s a manufactured virus has been totally discredited.

But knowing exactly how this new coronavirus crossed the species barrier to humans is unclear at least for now. However, what is clear is that human interaction with live animals, such as the wet markets in Wuhan, make disease transmission more probable. “Human interactions with live animals make a host jump more likely to occur,” said evolutionary biologist Dr Jemma Geoghegan of the University of Otago.

Given that we know as general knowledge that COVID-19 came from animals, and with specifically high suspicions on wildlife trade, it is incomprehensible that China has reopened wet markets from early April. That said, there seems to be some genuine linguistic confusion around the term “wet markets” which is akin to a fresh food or farmer’s market in the West. But US officials and others have used the same term to seek a ban on live animal trade in these markets. Even so, despite butchery of lambs, cows and pigs needing to take place in slaughterhouses, live fish and chicken is still commonly present. Unsanitary practices including lack of refrigeration or packaging for meat products further compounds the risks of festering disease and transmission, especially for those smaller markets in more rural communities.

World leaders, prominent figures and organisations have rightly called for wet markets to be shutdown including Australian PM Scott Morrison. Although what’s more worrying is that the World Health Organisation (WHO) supports China’s decision in reopening live animal markets which the WHO is facing immense criticism for and deservedly so. The counter argument for opening these markets is simply because of the basic necessity required by the respective communities, which includes food security and economic activity. But whichever way you look at it, it’s reckless and bewildering because it is simply continuing on life as usual as if nothing happened, as if there was no coronavirus pandemic. Even if China enforces food safety and hygiene regulations, it’s not really solving the root cause of the problem. And this leads us back to our utter contempt and blindness towards nature and wildlife, even at the risk of our own lives.

Our socioeconomic structures binds us to certain patterns of life in which it may be very difficult to change. If pain or suffering comes in one way, we typically look for the quickest way out to return to the life that we had, the life that we know or find comfort in. We just can’t seem to trade in short-term sacrifices for long-term gain. It’s understandable that a sudden, complete and permanent shut down of live animal trade and consumption in China may come as a major shock with all its cascading socioeconomic impacts. But to consider the insurmountable costs of another deadly virus pandemic, significant and fundamental change to wildlife trade and consumption must happen and not just for China, but the world.

Dr Goodall continued to say that the same disregard the world has shown towards nature is also the root cause of man-made climate change. She believes the world should have treated climate change as if it was a similar pandemic “because it’s actually far more devastating in terms of loss of life and people being driven from countries simply because the habitat is so inhospitable”.

“You only have to look around at some of the political leaders in different countries to understand why. Because people don’t want to think about making the changes necessary because it would impact their success in business,” said Dr Goodall.

Maybe it has taken something like this COVID-19 to wake us up and realise you can’t eat money.

Jane definitely makes a good point though the impacts to the global population would be a lot more than just business, but our entire way of life, with all its perks and luxuries (for those who can afford it) and the underlying economic structure that supports it. People generally don’t change until the pain of changing becomes less than their current pain. But usually by that stage, it may be too late. We can only hope that this doesn’t happen with either COVID-19 or climate change.