Evgeny Lebedev: Now we can begin to see disaster of new Covid conservation crisis

A few years ago, I had the honour of meeting the world’s most eligible bachelor. Sudan was a hulking great rhinoceros, protected by the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya. I remember stroking the gentle giant, struggling with the fact that this was the last male northern white rhino on the planet.

Two years ago he died, thus making this subspecies extinct.

As Covid wreaks havoc, a new conservation crisis has gone unnoticed. Since March of this year, it is feared that 10 per cent of Botswana’s rhinos lie dead.

Niger has uncovered a “massacre” of gazelles in a nature reserve. And Uganda is seeing an unprecedented rise in snare traps. In Asia, the problem is equally grave. India has seen a doubling of leopard poaching. The wildlife eco-systems across South Asia are coming under new stresses. In Russia, the battle to save the Amur leopard — of which there remain just 90 adults according to WWF — is a particular source of concern.

The human and natural worlds are intimately linked. This Covid-induced conservation crisis stems from the global economic crisis caused by the virus. On the ground, the collapse in tourism threatens to enfeeble the ability of national parks and conservation groups to protect wildlife. A fall in funding for NGOs has left them worrying how to support the vital work of rangers.

Just last week, the head of a world-renowned wildlife NGO admitted to me that his organisation’s funding was in tatters and their conservation and research may not be able to continue. The virus has forced governments in Africa and South Asia to refocus their attention not on long-term environmental targets, but on immediate welfare programmes for their people.

In Africa especially, governments enforced lockdowns that have so far spared the continent the brunt of the coronavirus crisis. But this has caused many people to fall back into poverty.

What we cannot know is the extent of the damage. We need to have experts to assess the damage and help those at risk of poverty to secure their livelihoods.

When I launched our Stop The Illegal Wildlife Trade campaign in The Independent and Evening Standard, we knew that the natural world was under threat. We did not know the extent of the damage. This is only now becoming clear. That is why our campaign is so urgent. Through zoonotic transfer via a pangolin, the coronavirus emerged from the illegal wildlife trade. As did Sars, and countless other diseases.

We are campaigning to gather the resources to protect wildlife. We want our campaign to play a part in showing readers why this issue is among the most serious crises facing humanity at present.

After Covid-19, we can no longer pretend that what happens in the natural world is cordoned off from our lives. I hope you will join us in this fight to prevent more species following Sudan. Our campaign to end the illegal wildlife trade aims to protect nature, but in doing so we are also protecting our own future.

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