Pandemics and Deforestation: An Interlinking Relationship of the Changing Urban Ecology
Misha Roy*
Published: June 24, 2022
Abstract
Humanity is facing some major global challenges that are of immediate concern. Two of them are Pandemic and Deforestation. The connection between deforestation and a pandemic sounds strange or a bit far-fetched but unfortunately, these are linked together, in a very complex way. Deforestation refers to the decrease in forest areas across the world for other uses such as agricultural croplands, urbanization, mining activities, monoculture, etc. Pandemics are outbreaks of infectious diseases that can cause morbidity and mortality over a wide geographic area and cause significant economic, social, and political disruptions [1]. Urban ecology is study of the relation of living organisms with each other and their surroundings in the context of an urban environment. Deforestation is the root cause of biodiversity loss which in turn leads to ecosystem disruption, i.e, it affects the ecosystem services. Evidence suggests that the pandemics have increased over the past century because of urbanization, changes in land use, exploitation of natural resources, and destruction of habitats. The rapid increase in population has resulted in speedy reforms in urban ecology, which has resulted in deforestation and habitat defragmentation and human encroachment into the forest.