The use of land for intensive agriculture, which brings together wild animals whose habitats are disturbed to humans, makes the occurrence of pandemics such as that of Covid-19 more likely, according to a study published Wednesday.
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According to this study published in the journal Nature, diseases carried by wild animals are more likely to be transmitted to humans due to changes in land use.
The UN estimates that three-quarters of the earth’s land has been largely degraded by human activities since the start of the industrial age.
One third of the land and three quarters of the fresh water is used in particular by agriculture.
This use of land for agriculture is growing every year, often to the detriment of ecosystems such as forests, which are home to wild animals that are themselves hosts of many pathogens potentially transmissible to humans.
The team at University College London (UCL) reviewed 6,800 ecosystems around the world and found that animals known to carry pathogens (bats, rodents, birds) are more numerous in landscapes intensely modified by them. Men.
Covid-19, which has infected more than 18 million people in
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