Conditions rife for next pandemic unless urgent action taken, experts warn.

KARACHI -- Experts participating in an online session on Wednesday underscored the need for urgent global action to address the factors driving the emergence of zoonotic diseases posing an acute threat to human life.

The event was organised by the World Wide Fund for Nature-Pakistan (WWF-P) to launch a new WWF (international) report.

Commenting on the report, director general at WWF-Pakistan Hammad Naqi Khan said that the Covid-19 pandemic was causing huge loss of life and increasing financial difficulties of families across the world.

'The longer the crisis continues, the greater the threat will be to global peace, security and stability. The Covid-19 health crisis reconfirms how people and nature are interlinked, and how our negative impact on the natural world increases the risk of future pandemics.'

He was of the view that people must urgently recognize the links between the destruction of nature and human health, or the world would soon see the next pandemic.

During the discussion, it was pointed out that though questions remained about the exact origins of Covid-19, all available evidence suggested that it was a zoonotic disease, meaning it jumped from wildlife to humans.

The government of China, it was stated, had announced a comprehensive ban on the consumption of wild animals in February and the National People's Congress (NPC) was supporting the revision of the existing law on the protection of wildlife, which, if implemented in full, could position China's Wildlife Protection Law as one of the world's most robust and stringent.

Other governments, speakers said, needed to follow suit and close their high-risk wildlife markets and end this trade...