Erik Verheyen

Staff Researcher, Vertebrates

Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences

Could you describe the challenges and opportunities that biodiversity faces in light of the current COVID-19 pandemic? 

The pandemics impact on the global economy has a short-term beneficial effect on the global environment and its biodiversity. Unfortunately, it seems likely that already very noticeable urge to restarting ‘normal’ economic activities that underpinned our former lifestyles may quickly reverse these beneficial effects. The pressure to revive our economies as quickly as possible seems to leave little room to foster and stimulate sustainable economic activities and makes me doubt whether the changes that currently debated will eventually lead to a significant reduction of our ecological footprint in the longer term. It will require a herculean effort to convince our policymakers and their citizens that it is imperative that we transform our current economic model into a new model that safeguards our environment and the  life forms with whom we share this planet, to ensure the sustained survival of our own species’ societies.

What could/should be the role of science-policy interfaces in the post-covid world? 

Our awareness that humanity's interactions with its environment and natural resources not only contribute to global climate change and the erosion of biodiversity, as well as to a realistic chance of periodic pandemics, should be the guiding principle for the policies of the future. Thanks to the global impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, and increasingly visible climate related issues, science-policy interfaces should be reinforced to have more leverage on policy makers to remind policymakers of their responsibilities. In order to create the necessary leverage, organisations active in Science-Policy Interface reinforcement must collaborate with both sides of the spectrum. Authorities and policy makers need to become more conscious of the value of science and how scientific findings can help them in coping with the post-Covid world issues. The international research community and scientific institutions will need support that enables them to guide policymakers in achieving realistic post-Covid plans to ensure a fair and globally sustainable world. 

In light of the changes foreseen due to the pandemic, how important is capacity building at this time and which communities need it the most?

 Unless a vaccine can be rapidly developed and rolled out worldwide, this pandemic is likely to cause long-term disruption in countries where the medical sector is not sufficiently strong to deal with this type of challenge.  In this context, I feel particularly concerned about the fate of indigenous peoples, whose vulnerability is becoming increasingly evident over the last months. Capacity building will have to focus even more than before on assisting our partners in the South to develop and strengthen local expertise and governing tools to develop their societies without depleting their natural resources and destroying the often-last remnants of pristine natural habitats on the globe. To achieve this, organisations and programs involved in capacity building in the South should target their own political authorities to increase their understanding of the risks of biodiversity loss in the pandemic context, the urgency of the problem, the constraints that impede its mitigation and  the understanding of how science can be of help. 

Erik Verheyen is also involved in BiodivERsA project 'BIODIV-AFREID' highlighted in this brand new brochure. The project investigates how biodiversity status and alterations might (dis)favour emerging infectious diseases derived from small mammals in African forests, including coronaviruses.