Hanoi (VNA) – More than a year after the COVID-19 outbreak, a newreport by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and GlobeScan shows that thereis a strong understanding that risky human-animal interaction, often connectedto deforestation and high-risk wildlife trade, can lead to serious diseaseoutbreaks.

The report entitled “COVID-19 One Year Later: PublicPerceptions about Pandemics and their Links to Nature” builds on the study“Opinion Survey on COVID-19 and Wildlife Trade in 5 Asian Markets” conducted byWWF and GlobeScan in 2020 to understand public attitudes and behavioursregarding COVID-19 and future pandemics.

It said 46 percent of all surveyed participants listeddisease transmission from animals to humans as the root cause most likely totrigger future pandemics.

In addition, the majority of those surveyed believe thatpreventing future pandemics begins with addressing root causes, includinghigh-risk wildlife trade and deforestation.

People from all five surveyed countries, including Vietnam,China, Myanmar, Thailand and the US, strongly support government efforts toclose high-risk markets selling animals from the wild (85 percent) and stopdeforestation (88 percent). In Vietnam, the agreement rates to these mattersare 94 percent and 95 percent, respectively.

Marco Lambertini, WWF International Director General, saidthat the prevention of pandemics is estimated to cost 100 times less thanresponding to them. The pandemic has made it blatantly clear that investing inplanetary health and nature is the only way to avoid paying such a terriblesocial and economic price again in the future.

The report results serve as an important foundation forVietnam and other countries in the region to consider decisions on closingwildlife markets and closing forests to proactively prevent the pandemic.

WWF is calling on decision makers to include interventionsneeded to address key drivers of zoonotic disease outbreaks in their pandemicprevention plans. Closing forests and high-risk wildlife markets, for example,will help recover wildlife populations and maintain local and globalbiodiversity that naturally help regulate disease, as well as help ensure thesustainable use of natural resources.

To support the fight against COVID-19, citizens are highlyrecommended not to buy, sell or consume wildlife products to prevent pandemicsand ensure the safety of themselves and the community./.