Why the next pandemic could come from the Arctic — and what to do about it

Nature, 04 September 2024
Between 1979 and 2021, the region warmed four times faster than the global average. Its ability to store carbon and weather patterns are poorly understood. According to the researchers in Denmark in addition to the effects of biodiversity loss and pollution, and people, as the Arctic warms, its environment degrades and human activities increase, new health threats are emerging leading to a quadruple crisis. Since starting research in the Arctic in 1997, monitoring changes in pollution levels, habitats and food webs using a ‘One Health’ approach that integrates effects on wildlife, humans and ecosystems, the Arctic is likely to become a hotbed for zoonotic diseases. We need to take seriously the possibility that the next pandemic could come from the north. Some 60% of emerging infectious diseases are zoonotic. The pathogens enter an environment in which some native species, such as polar bears have not been exposed to them, and so are at increased risk. The release of ancient microorganisms long frozen in ice and sediments as the landscape thaws adds to this danger: humans and other wildlife are likely to lack any immune defences against them. Compared with temperate and tropical latitudes, many fewer resources are devoted to studying zoonoses in the Arctic, with sparse surveillance for emerging threats in most areas. According to the researchers to make a true difference, there is need for a broader Arctic monitoring and assessment plan, underpinned by treaty, that combines surveillance of pollution and of disease… read more.