Intro
Complex links between increased human-mediated disturbance, land-use change, natural habitat loss/degradation/fragmentation, climate change and biodiversity loss have all been linked to increases in the increased prevalence and risk of zoonotic disease for a variety of pathogens, mostly driven by human activities that modify the environment or spread pathogens into new ecological niches.
Scope
- Map, identify and characterise potential emerging pathogens and their hosts/vectors.
- Explore the relationship of biodiversity and ecosystems dynamics with microbiomes’ evolution and spread, within the broader context of socio-economic driving forces, climate change, public health and animal health.
- Take into account the impacts of land use and climate change on biodiversity, ecosystem services and pandemics.
- Contribute to devise an early warning mechanism, track environmental change, assess the risk of pathogens crossing over and reduce risky human activities.
Objective
- Recover biodiversity and ecosystems services whilst predicting and preventing future pandemics and epidemic outbreaks.
- Map and forecast epidemics risks on the basis of relationships between factors such as land use, ecology, climate, biodiversity, and socio-economic factors.
- Use of novel technologies for better land use and environmental management
- Multidisciplinary collaborations that embody the One Health/ EcoHealth concept to prevent pandemics, sustain biodiversity, promote human, animal and ecosystem health and nature conservation
