Scientists have long warned that our warming world could cause more diseases from wildlife to spill over to humans and spread around the world. Now, a study published this month in the journal Science of the Total Environment makes the case that climate change played a direct role in the emergence of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic.
The research, which comes from the University of Cambridge’s Department of Zoology, explains that climate change-related temperature increases, more sunlight, and increased atmospheric carbon dioxide (affecting plant and tree growth) have expanded bat-friendly forest habitats in Myanmar, Laos, and southern China — where SARS-CoV-2 may have originated. According to the work, 40 bat species have moved into the southern Chinese Yunnan province in the past century, bringing 100 more types of bat-borne coronaviruses to the area.
According to the U.S. Agency for International Development, “nearly 75 percent of all new, ...
