Ebola: A tragedy – and a warning to us all

The center of the current outbreak is in Ituri Province in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and extends into neighboring Uganda. The World Health Organization has since declared it an international public health emergency.

For years, people in the region have endured armed conflict, forest destruction, mining, and the impacts of the climate crisis. In many places, health care is weak, and the tense security situation is making it even harder to contain Ebola.

Ebola, COVID-19, and SARS are all dangerous zoonoses – diseases that originally came from animals.

When forests are cleared, raw materials extracted, and habitats destroyed, the risk rises. Viruses can make the leap to humans in many ways: people may eat infected animals hunted in forest areas that were previously inaccessible. Or wildlife may move into human settlements it would otherwise have avoided because its habitat has been destroyed – and transmit pathogens in the process.

Protecting intact ecosystems also means protecting human health. Ebola outbreaks and the COVID-19 pandemic have cost hundreds of thousands of lives. The next pathogen could be even deadlier.

Rainforest Rescue’s partners work in the crisis region in eastern DRC, but they do not appear to be directly affected. They are continually assessing whether they need to adapt their work, including protest actions against oil projects.