Green Pulse Ep 15: Can raised awareness of Covid-19 help end Asia's wildlife markets?

11:20 mins

Synopsis: Green Pulse is an environmental podcast series at The Straits Times which analyses the beat of the changing environment, from biodiversity conservation to climate change. 

This month, ST’s environment correspondent Audrey Tan chats with Mr Rohit Singh, zero poaching lead at the World Wild Fund for Nature (WWF) Singapore, on wildlife markets and their link with zoonotic diseases.

In December, a string of pneumonia-linked cases caused by a mystery virus sprang up in Wuhan, China. Preliminary studies showed that bats were likely a natural reservoir for the virus.

Scientists are still studying how the virus made the “jump” to humans, but wild animal markets have been implicated in the process as the first cases of the new Covid-19 coronavirus were workers at the Huanan Wholesale Seafood Market, which also sold wild animals.

The Chinese government has since introduced a temporary ban on wildlife markets in China, but environmental advocates are calling for the ban to be made permanent.

Tune in to this episode to find out what these markets are like in the rest of Asia, their link to the emergence of new infectious diseases, and what can be done to prevent them

Produced by: Audrey Tan (audreyt@sph.com.sg) & David Fogarty (dfogarty@sph.com.sg) & Ernest Luis

Follow Audrey Tan on Twitter

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Edited by: Adam Azlee

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