Human Impacts on Natural Habitats Leading to Covid-19 Pandemic

ABSTRACT

In the history of mankind, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has emerged as one of the most alarming pandemics. The causative organism of COVID-19 is severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that has affected humans with high infection and mortality rates. SARS-CoV-2 is proposed to be a zoonotic virus with reservoir animals being bats or pangolins. The continuous emergence of zoonotic diseases in the last 100 years has indicated the linkages between anthropogenic activities and the onset of novel pathogenic microorganisms in the human population. Effect of the devastation of the environment and natural habitats are reasons for an increasing number of zoonotic diseases impacting mankind in the last few decades. Several of the zoonotic microbes are known to have jumped from wild animals or birds to humans causing severe outbreaks. Deforestation, unplanned urbanization, air pollution, climate change, bushmeat trading, and consumption are some of the important factors that are correlated with each other and influence the emergence of pandemics such as COVID-19. COVID-19 has also proved to be a learning for the future suggesting the importance of environmental sustainability and achieving the targets of United Nation Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs 2030). © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021.