Forest restoration can protect against disease

The coronavirus pandemic showed the world the dangers of zoonotic diseases—those that can jump to humans from other animals—but COVID-19 is just one example: Nearly half of today’s infectious diseases are zoonotic in origin. Emerging data highlight how forest destruction and fragmentation—which concentrate infected animals and their pathogens in remaining habitat and increase interactions between people and wildlife—can encourage transmission of these diseases. That’s why WWF works with local communities, timber companies, and consumers to combat deforestation and protect human health.

Lyme disease in North America

Growing demand for wood and paper products, expanding suburban development, reduced biodiversity, and increasing wildfires have compromised forest quality in the US. Deer and white-footed mice, excellent hosts for Lyme disease, thrive in degraded forests and expose more people to infected ticks. Approximately 30,000 cases are reported each year, many in the Northeast. 

Landscape restoration, responsible forest management, wildlife protection, and housing development that avoids fragmenting forests can help mitigate these risk factors. WWF supports forest restoration across the US and works to help companies reduce their environmental footprints. Consumers can also help by purchasing wood and paper products with the Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®) label, which indicates responsible management practices.

Malaria in the Amazon

Malaria has killed more than 220 million people globally. In the Amazon, research shows malaria is connected to deforestation. Some disease-transmitting mosquitoes thrive in the partial shade of a forest’s edge, and tree clearing increases the sunlight and standing water the insects need to breed. One study linked a 10% rise in deforestation to a 3.3% uptick in infections.

Drivers of deforestation include expanding cattle ranching, agriculture, and infrastructure. In Peru, WWF has worked with ranchers to improve cattle foraging practices, animal health, and monitoring for disease risks—reducing cattle’s vulnerability to pathogens and decreasing wildlife and livestock interactions.

Ebola in West Africa

Ebola’s death rate is around 50%. Since the disease was identified in 1976, more than 13,000 people have died, largely in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. Ebola likely originates in fruit bats, porcupines, and nonhuman primates, but people can act as virus reservoirs, harboring the disease long after recovery and triggering new outbreaks. Still, studies have found forest loss to be the greatest risk factor for transmission—greater even than high human population density. 

Many Ebola outbreaks occur in West Africa and Central Africa, where agriculture, mining, logging, and timber harvesting have disturbed forests and increased human-wildlife encounters. Here, WWF helps to discourage the illegal harvesting of fuelwood in protected areas by providing local communities with alternatives for cooking and heating. WWF also works with partners to support early detection of disease spillover and to offer health services to park employees and neighboring communities where habitat disturbance can occur.

Learn more about the connection between disease and deforestation.