 Restoration
of Wetlands Key to Reducing Future Threats of
Avian Flu
UNEP
Restoring tens of thousands of lost and degraded wetlands
could go a long way towards reducing the threat of avian flu
pandemics a new report today says.
The loss of wetlands around the globe is forcing many wild
birds onto alternative sites like farm ponds and paddy fields,
bringing them into direct contact with chickens, ducks, geese,
and other domesticated fowl.
Close contact of wild birds and poultry species is believed
to be a major cause behind the spread of avian influenza.
Clearing intensive poultry rearing units from the ‘flyways’
of migratory birds would also be prudent.
“Intensive poultry operations along migratory wild
bird routes are incompatible with protecting the health of
ecosystems that birds depend upon. They also increase the
risks of transfer of pathogens between migrating birds and
domestic fowl,” says the study.
The report has been commissioned by the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP) from a team led by leading Canadian academic
Dr David Rapport.
It focuses on the environmental factors underpinning the
re-emergence of old diseases and which are likely to be triggering
the rise of new ones like highly virulent avian influenza
or H5N1.
The report’s preliminary findings, announced at a scientific
seminar on avian influenza taking place at UNEP’s headquarters
in Nairobi, concludes that current “heroic efforts”
focusing on “isolation, quarantine, culls and medications”
are likely to be quick fixes offering limited short term benefits.
It recommends that governments, the United Nations and public
health experts back environmental measures in order to counter
the spread of diseases like H5N1 over the medium and long
term.
Other possibly more controversial suggestions, aimed at reducing
contact between wild birds and poultry, include shifting livestock
production away from humans and other mammals such as pigs.
The report accepts that in some parts of the world, like
South East Asia, separating poultry from people is at odds
with generational cultural traditions and practices.
“As unpalatable as this may be, where it is clearly
in the interest of preventing future pandemics with potentially
catastrophic global effects, it can and should be undertaken,”
argues Dr Rapport, Honorary Professor of the Ecoystem Health
Programme, Faculty of Medicine, University of Western Ontario,
and a member of the firm EcoHealth Consulting of Salt Spring
Island, British Columbia.
Shafqat Kakakhel, UNEP’s Deputy Executive Director and
Officer in Charge, said: “These thought-provoking
findings will need to be looked at in detail by all those
involved in fighting current and future threatened pandemics.
However, what this research underlines is that the link between
a healthy environment and disease prevention is no marginal
topic, but an important component in public health policy
particularly in a globalized world”.
He said: “There are numerous pressing reasons for
conserving and restoring degraded ecosystems like wetlands”.
The services they provide for humankind are vital and of
great economic importance. Wetlands are natural water storage
features, they filter pollution, help absorb floods and are
home to numerous species including fish.
“Their ability to disperse and keep wild birds away
from domestic ones is now yet another compelling argument
for conserving and rehabilitating them,” added Mr
Kakakhel.
The two day avian flu seminar, organized by UNEP, the Convention
on Migratory Species (CMS) and the African Eurasian Water
Bird Agreement (AEWA), has brought together experts from across
the world.
The seminar builds on the work of the international Scientific
Task Force on avian influenza established by CMS last August
which now comprises experts from 13 UN Bodies, treaty organizations
and non governmental organizations.
It was preceded on Sunday by the first World Migratory Bird
Day where the main celebrations were organized by internationally
renowned author Kuki Gallmann and the Great Rift Valley Trust
at the Laikipia Conservancy in Kenya.
The report also comes in the wake of an expert workshop held
in Curitiba. Brazil organized by the UNEP Convention on Biological
Diversity (CBD).
The experts in Brazil concluded that a far wider range of
species including rare and endangered ones may be affected
by highly virulent avian flu than has previously been supposed.
These include big cats like leopards and tigers, small cats
such as civets, and other mammals like martens, weasels, badgers,
and otters.
The CBD workshop also concluded that over 80 per cent of
known bird species, including migratory and non migratory
ones may also be at risk with members of the crow family and
vultures of particular concern.
The experts are also worried that the impact of the highly
virulent virus may extend far beyond direct infection of species,
including on livelihoods and trade as countries take measures
to combat the problem.
Culling of poultry, especially in developing countries where
chicken is a key source of protein, may lead to local people
turning to ‘bushmeat’ as an alternative.
This may put new and unacceptable pressure on a wide range
of wild living creatures from wild pigs up to endangered species
like chimpanzees, gorillas and other great apes.
The CBD experts also expressed concern over the development
of a genetic mono- culture of domestic poultry claiming that
this makes many domestic fowl less disease resistant.
In late 2005, more than 120 governments endorsed resolutions
at a meeting of three key wildlife treaties—AEWA, CMS
and the wetlands treaty Ramsar—which recommend strengthening
biosecurity in farming; improving global surveillance and
research on avian influenza; developing early warning systems
and avoiding ineffective or counter-productive ‘quick
fixes’ such as culling migratory birds or destroying
their wetland habitats.
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