Our war against nature is inevitably a war against ourselves

"The first crisis is ecological, the second is medical", writes Bella Lack, a 16 year old conservationist and a member of the Ivory Alliance which works to combat the illegal wildlife trade. "Viruses are environmental issues - 60% of emerging diseases originate in animals. We are creating a vulnerable and fragile planet and as we do so, we become ever more vulnerable and fragile too. This pandemic is a stark and frightening reminder of our vulnerability."

The spread of zoonotic diseases like COVID-19 is a result of the capturing, slaughtering, trade and consumption of wild animals, as they're killed for their body parts or snatched alive from their wild homes in countries all around the globe or bred in farms and sold in open markets. Whilst China has temporarily banned consumption of "terrestrial wildlife of important ecological, scientific and social value," and has shut down 20,000 'wildlife-farms' it's widely acknowledged that it needs to own up to the part it's played for far too long in the HUGE decline of our species worldwide and the cruelty inflicted on our fellow creatures. Scientists and ecologists agree that China and the rest of the world needs to ban the trade and consumption of all wildlife immediately and permanently.

Meanwhile in a press briefing held in New York by the Global Alliance of Indigenous Peoples on Friday 13th March, leaders said that if we don't help protect biodiversity and nature then we will face worse future threats of disease. A report from The Intergovernmental Science Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services last year said that zoonatic diseases are significant threats to human health, "Emerging infectious diseases in wildlife, domestic animals, plants or people can be exacerbated by human activities such as land clearing and habitat fragmentation."

***********************************************************************************************************

A prayer from Ruth Valerio's 'Saying Yes to Life' - the Archbishop of Canterbury's Lent Book 2020

'Our heavenly Father, as we look up to you in the vastness of the skies,

The sun that you have made opens our eyes to a world lit in colour and clarity,

And the moon and the stars remind us of your faithfulness and steadfast presence,

Amidst the seasons of darkness and our community's moments of uncertainty.

Lord Jesus, you have showed us how from beginning to end was the light of love,

That as endless as the heavens above, so is the grace that sustains all things,

So with faith that the Spirit has wrought in us, we seek the care that every creature is to have,

As we dream, hope and labour for a future wrapped in the fullness of joy that your new creation brings. Amen.

Rei Lemuel Crizaldo, from Manila, Philippines

****************

And below is a prayer calling us to all have courage in the face of COVID-19 from The Revd Barbara Glasson, The Methodist Church in Great Britain:-

"We are not people of fear

Wherever you call us."