Sao Paulo (AFP)

Human intervention in areas with native flora and fauna can cause ecological imbalances and spread disease from the heart of the jungle. With the deforestation of the Amazon, the next big pandemic could be Brazilian, warns researcher David Lapola.

"The Amazon is a large reservoir of viruses," says the 38-year-old scientist. "We are playing with fire".

The largest tropical jungle in the world still has vast preserved areas, "but there is always more deforestation, destruction (...). When this ecological imbalance is caused (...) there can be a transmission of virus (from animals to humans) ", he explains in an interview with AFP.

Environmental specialist David Lapola recalls that HIV, Ebola and dengue fever have raged or are still raging on the globe. "It is historic, all of them were viruses which spread widely from ecological imbalances".

He specifies that, according to studies, these transmissions occur more frequently in South Asia and Africa, where certain families of bats are found. But the diversity of the Amazonian flora and fauna could make this region "the largest deposit of coronavirus in the world", he says, in reference to the coronavirus in general and not to the new coronavirus from China.

But "it is not the fault of the bats, we must not go out and kill them," said the Brazilian researcher from the Center for Meteorological and Applied Research in Agriculture at Unicamp.

"This is another reason not to make this irrational use, which is currently on the rise, of our Amazon," he believes.

- "Refound" the relationship with the jungle -

David Lapola warns that the current context in Brazil, where the Covid-19 has already killed more than 13,000 people, makes surveillance of the threatened tropical jungle even more difficult.

"We must respond to this health crisis and all of our efforts must aim towards this goal (...) But it is worrying because we have a very significant increase (in deforestation), when it is not even the season ", he assures.

During the first four months of 2020, 1,202 square kilometers of jungle disappeared, according to satellite data from the National Institute for Space Research of Brazil (INPE).

This represents an increase of 55% over the same period last year, the highest since these monthly observations began in August 2015.

Far-right Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, a climate skeptic who advocates opening up protected land to mining and agriculture, this week sent soldiers to fight deforestation.

"The most serious issue is the use of the military for all kinds of problems in Brazil. This shows a certain institutional crisis and the dismantling of the environmental agency Ibama," he continues.

"It has been shown that the progress of deforestation depends on those who govern us. The good news is that governments pass. I hope that during a future administration we will pay more attention to this enormous biological treasure, without the greatest doubt on the planet, "he said of the Amazon, more than 60% of which is in Brazilian territory.

The researcher also believes that it is also necessary to "refound the relationship of society with the jungles".

For David Lapola, the spread of new diseases from the depths of the jungle "is too complex a process to be expected, it is better to apply the precautionary principle and not to play with fire" by causing ecological disasters.

© 2020 AFP