Covid lessons learned? U.N. summit mulls plan for healthy planet, and humans

Experts urge world leaders to learn from Covid-19 and Ebola outbreaks, warning of future pandemics without immediate action.

The Covid-19 and Ebola outbreaks brought into stark relief the harms that can come to humans if we interfere too much with nature, placing ourselves in contact with animals carrying unknown pathogens.

At the COP16 biodiversity summit in Cali, Colombia, experts and activists have urged world leaders to learn the lessons from the estimated seven million lives lost to Covid, and thousands more due to Ebola. It is up to governments to act, and there is no time to waste.

The IPBES intergovernmental science and policy body on biodiversity has already warned that "future pandemics will emerge more often, spread more rapidly, do more damage to the world economy and kill more people than Covid-19" unless humankind changes course.

At the U.N. summit in Cali, delegates are working on a "biodiversity and health action plan" proposed for adoption by the 196 member nations of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

It includes commitments to limit harmful agriculture and forestry, reduce the use of pesticides, fertilizers and other chemicals damaging to nature, and reduce the use of antibiotics in farm animals.

The plan is voluntary, however, and parties remain stuck on a few details.

Agreement, WWF wildlife policy manager Colman O'Criodain told AFP, "may be at the expense of watered down language on some issues, such as intensive agriculture and use of antimicrobials" -- which affect biotech and agribusiness, both big money-spinners.