The threat tobout biodiversity from covid19. Tell us what we mean when we say biodiversity. We are talking about the abundance and diversity of nature, the wildlife and plants and animals that exist in Natural Systems and how they coexist and how healthy those ecosystems they occupy our. We are seeing a collapse of biodiversity. Scientists are calling it the sixth mass extinction. About one million species around the world are at risk of disappearing. Biodiversity is in rapid decline around the world. Highlights onthe the threats to biodiversity, one million species are at risk of extinction worldwide. Half of all rain forests in the world are gone. Two thirds of wetlands have disappeared. 60 of the planets wildlife has been lost since 1970. The headline said the destroyed creates the perfect conditions for coronavirus to emerge. Scientists have been warning us that this is increasing the risk for Infectious Diseases to make the leap from the Natural World into the human world. Mers, hivaids, and now covid19 have their origins in the Natural World. Through wildlife trafficking and deforestation, loss of natural it is easier for happenings and diseases to make the leap into our communities, and then in the modern world with transportation and commerce as we have seen here with those diseases can move around the world at lightning pace. Host tell us what that means. Are diseases that began in the Natural World with wildlife. Whether they are with bats or other creatures, and then through contact with humans, they transmit from nonhuman animals to human and then spread for human communities. Scientists are estimating two thirds of emerging axis diseases in the world come from animals. That number is so high in large humans areuse infringing on the Natural World at unprecedented speed. When we disrupt Natural Systems, it is easier for viruses to emerge into our communities. Your report is saying half of the rain forest are gone in the world, why are being forests in particular important . Forests are hotspots for biodiversity. These are not just tropical rain forests. We have rain forests in north america. Those systems are incredibly valuable for providing clean water and food and clean air to our communities around the country and around the world. Host those rain forests have been breeding grounds where the chemicals have been located. Guest that is absolutely right. We are increasing the risk of diseases and also limiting our options of finding cures. Half of all medicines today have ingredients that are threatened by biodiversity loss. The destruction of nature is a problem for the pandemics that inability tod our find cures to them. Our guest is matt leeashley, senior fellow at the center for american progress. We are talking about the loss of world biodiversity and the emergence of coronavirus. For those of you on the central and eastern time zones. 202 7488001 for those of you in the mountain and pacific. What else in your background has you interested in this topic . I spent time at the u. S. Department of the interior, working for the obama administration, and the interior department is the main Natural Resources agency for the federal government. I also worked in the u. S. Senate on Natural Resource policy. Domestichas been on nature policy. Shows theart fragmentation of the american landscape is worsening. Fragmentation has become so extensive that if a person were to parachute into a random spot in the lower 48, they could expect to be no more than a 10 minute walk from Human Development. What is fragmentation and what are you getting at here . Guest the point is that the United States is not immune from the nature crisis. We are losing natural areas very quickly. The human footprint in the lower 48 states, what they found his way are losing about a football field worth of natural area in the u. S. Every 30 seconds. Amazon rainthe forest in brazil as disappearing very quickly. Natural areas in the u. S. Are disappearing at a similar rate. It is not just that we are losing natural places in a logical and linear fashion. Is the suburban sprawl that carves up remaining natural areas into smaller chunks. Biglife need to have expanses to be able to migrate and survive. With the habitat fragmentation, were talking about the degree to which wildlife is being boxed in. We dont encourage everybody to parachute into a random spot in the u. S. , but if you did, you would find yourself closer to Human Development than you would have 20 years ago. Host looking at that chart between 2000 and 2017, the biggest loss in the midwest and nearly 60 loss of total natural land area. Back to the topic this morning on the emerging united diseases. What about areas in china . Are similar things happening around the world . Land andlosing biodiversity as quickly . It is a global problem. Require international cooperation. Big picture, we need to protect about half of the year in its natural state if we are going to survive as a species. That is because we need the clean water and clean air and food that comes from nature. Togethers are coming around the idea of pursuing the objective of conserving 30 of all lands and oceans on the planet by the year 2030. Nations will have a chance to come together early next year to set those targets for Nature Conservation. Pursuing that kind of ambitious goal would be immensely valuable for a variety of reasons, including our ability longterm to buffer ourselves from these kinds of infections. Host what is the center for take on progresss recent efforts like the one Million Trees effort to grow more trees across the globe . Guest i think the inspiration and the idea of desire to do something good is there. On a practical level, that proposal needs a lot more substance and actual detail for it to be meaningful. Largeea of reinforcing landscapes and protecting forests, that is what we should be after because of the value of nature and the services it provides and in the battle against Climate Change. One of our most powerful weapons is the ability of Natural Stores to absorb and carbon. Reducing the planets natural ability to capture and store carbon. The u. S. Backed away from the paris climate agreement. You are talking about this 30 by 30 first that nations want to agree to. Where is the u. S. On that . Guest the u. S. Has been moving backward on Nature Conservation. In the last three years, we have seen the largest elimination of protections of lands in the u. S. History . Protectionsepeal for the u. S. s largest rain forest. That has long been a tradition here in the United States, bipartisan, to protect places that matter to everyone. We are encouraging the National Leaders to adopt and pursue goals in the u. S. It is achievable and we could here at home conserve 30 of u. S. Lands and oceans by 2030. Take us doing more with compass ovation with conservation. These are trails and protecting forests and we can do this as a country. Host lets go to texas. Good morning. Caller i am really glad to have matt on a out about this and. Iving us this information thank you cspan. I feel like we are disrupting nature worse than ever. Administrationhe currently by far. We must protect the client. Wouldstion to matt is, you say that the earth has a way of protecting itself biologically through viruses and bacterias that would infect people because we are so incredibly overpopulated and such like that to defend itself . Guest i dont know if nature has an influence on this eared we know the value of nature to our own communities and we know what the essentials are to human life, clean air, clean water, healthy Food Supplies and to get outside in healthy ways. We are making conscious decisions as humans to protect or not protect the Natural World. Scientists are giving us the information we need to make better choices and we need to be rethinking some of the actions we are taking and the policies we have to create a better balance that we have with the Natural World. Host we will go to richard in colorado. I was looking at the flu epidemic website on the cdc and noticed that over the last eight years, six years have been over 500,000 hospitalizations and upr the last 10 years it is above 250,000 to 800,000 hospitalizations. These epidemics are getting out of control with the flu and the coronavirus and just with the environment. Are we likely to lose if of the population the United States and world to save the planet . I am just hoping for the best. Inc. You. Thank you. Guest one thing that was pointed out was that our Food Supplies are more than able to support people on earth and more. Part of the problem is we are wasting supplies. We are able to provide food for 10 Million People and there arent 10 billion people on earth. It is making wiser decisions about the resources we have and being smarter about development. Being smarter about where we will procure our wood or do we need to be allowing for would to be harvested from some of the sensitive places in the amazon . Do we need to open the tongue e forest in alaska . No, we have ample areas more around the world. It is about being smarter about decisions we are making and setting goals for Nature Conservation and recognizing there are some places in the United States and around the world that should be protected areas. Will have 12 of the u. S. With protected areas. We should have closer to 30 by 2030. That is a powerful way to sustain nature and the systems and services that nature provides to all of us. Host some of your proposed 30 by 30 project is to save ourselves we have to say major. You write that encroachment on natural areas and we talked about this an explication of wildlife is breaking the barriers between wins and disease carrying animals. Habitat and biodiversity loss are disrupting ecosystems that have naturally regulated diseases and protected human health. Give us an example of how these types of diseases would normally stay in that ecosystem. Have we are fortunate to terrific biologists and scientists who write beautifully about these things, so i will pretend to summarize. Think of lyme disease or west nile disease. Lyme disease is a good example ands disease borne by tics infections have gone up dramatically in recent years. One of the reasons for that as there has been a disruption of forests in the United States and the disappearance of certain animals within the food chain that have been able to help manage other species that carry tics. It is a scenario that when targeting an ecosystem disappears and gets disrupted, then that system is out of balance and you see that some of the species that are most able to survive after habitat disruption through urbanization of those that are able to carry pathogens most effectively. Think of rats in many cases. They thrive in some of the most adverse circumstances and also some types of bats. We are seeing these kinds of pathogens emerge from different places, and even Climate Change is an exacerbating factor. Color. Ext caller . Aller overcrowding and the fact that there is the development of nitrogen based fertilizers, we are able to increase the food supply is not a reason why we should be happy that we could have 10 billion people on the earth. We are way over crowded as it is already in this is why we are encroaching on the natural habitat. I will take my answer off of the air. I think you for cspan. Guest one thing i will point out. I think it is sometimes hard to keep a picture of a condition of nature in the United States because depending on where you live, it looks very different. If you live in some of the more rugged parts of the country, you feel squeezed. I live in d. C. From colorado and it is hard to find outdoor spaces. We feel crunched together. And other periods and other areas in the country it is open. We are among the top five countries in the world for the remaining natural plans. Only 12 is protected. There is still a lot of work we can do here in the united dates to go from where we are now to parts of wilderness areas in conservation easements and state parks we have established protect some components of our Natural Heritage with 60 of u. S. Land in a natural condition we can make a big gains and world secure the natural that makes sense for our kids in future generations. Host lets hear from amy from richmond, virginia. Caller hello. I am glad to see you on cspan this morning. Is how do we make government care . All of theright now, rollbacks that are happening and ,rotection of Natural Resources i wanted to point out that on cspan a while back a congressperson was talking about logging in the tongass rain , he said it is time to plant trees in the neighborhoods where they have been cut down to build houses. He doesnt even realize that the Tongass Forest is just more than trees, it is a habitat for all kinds of animals and plants and other natural living and you cant replace neighborhoods with a habitat such as what is in the. Ongass forest how do you make politicians understand . Thank you. Host thanks for your question. That is a great question. Guest that is something that i dont think anyone has cracked the code. Right now, the u. S. Government is trying come as it should be, to provide supplies where they are needed most and to mobilize to save lives. At the same time, congress is starting to think about how can we stimulate the economy and help with the rebuilding efforts. You see the First Industries in their lobbying for help our oil and gas and coal. They want to pay no royalties on federal lands. They are trying to get the Strategic Petroleum reserves. It is very real risk that in pursuing an economic stimulus plan and bailouts that congress would enact policies that would exacerbate the destruction of nature and worsen Climate Change. We should be doing the other thing a clean rebuild of the American Economy that helps protect places that matter to all americans that now more than ever we want to protect so we can get outside with our families and also that we establish a better balance with nature and pursue a more ambitious you of how we can protect places at home and around the world and combat wildlife tracking trafficking. As we put economic stimulus in we need to transport clean energy. Climate change we talked briefly about, but that is an accelerator of all of the changes that we are talking about. We need to be thinking about rebuilding the American Economy that makes us protects the essentials we need for life, clean air, clean water, clean energy, a stable climate. This is the opportunity to do that. Amysjust following on comments, as the coronavirus was coming out of china, the World Economic forum discussing deforestation said this, it drives wild animals out of their Natural Habitats and closer to human populations, creating a greater opportunity for diseases that spread from animals to humans. We will hear from scott next in hutchison, kansas. Go ahead. Scott host scott, you are on the air. Go ahead. One more time. I am in a wildlife fire area. , we needt need masks. There is a lot of forest out here in california. Host we will get to eric in new york. Good morning. Caller thank for cspan. I was wondering if you had any comments on the possible effects of i will call it Global Warming which changes a client , if itiral goings on might step up the incubation of its or increase the chances has to try to figure out how to coopt us in the way that it does . Climate change is a factor that is not being discussed nearly enough in my view. , scientists that track Climate Science globally have in their reports cautioned about the impact of Climate Change on pathogens and Infectious Diseases. One of the examples is malaria. With the change in climate, warming in that certain areas of the world, they are finding that malaria is spreading out to previous ranges and affecting more and more communities. That is something we are seeing in the u. S. With tics appearing in different places carrying lyme disease and west nile virus. It is a difficult thing to challenge and tackle, but we have to confront Climate Change if we are going to get protections against these diseases. Host a headline in the u. K. , we should start thinking about the next coronavirus. Ira environmentalists worn that there will be more diseases like this in the future if we continue our practices of. Estroying the Natural Worlds he has also had the capturing and eating or use of animals as pets or for food or medicine as a real problem and a cause of disease. That in termsout of the increased use of this . Guest he is absolutely right. With the covid19, they are still trying to determine the exact cause but it is thought to have come from china where animal carcasses are bought and sold and before that coming out of bats. The International Wildlife trade and trafficking of wildlife is a major threat. The u. S. Is the second largest market in the world for illegally trafficked wildlife after china. There are lots of animals and carcasses that are brought over here to the United States. The u. S. Fish an