Pandemic crippling nature conservation efforts

The Covid-19 pandemic has not only had devastating effects on humans, it has also heavily impacted efforts to safeguard natural ecosystems and habitats around the globe, conservationists warned yesterday.

The pandemic and its economic fall-out have put rangers out of work, forced cuts to anti-poaching patrols, and sparked a range of environmental roll-backs, the International Union for Conservation of Nature said.

A special edition of the IUCN's PARKS journal, containing a collection of new research papers on the pandemic's various impacts on nature conservation, indicated the crisis was being felt in protected areas worldwide.

"While the global health crisis remains priority, this new research reveals just how severe a toll the Covid-19 pandemic has taken on conservation efforts and on communities dedicated to protecting nature," IUCN director general Dr Bruno Oberle said in the statement.

Surveys done of protected areas across 90 countries showed that in general the impacts had been most severe in Africa, as well as in Latin America and Asia.