Preventing the Next Pandemic through Conservation and International Cooperation at the IUCN Congress
The following article, written by Victoria Sawchuk and Lara O’Callaghan, is part of a series of reflections on the upcoming International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) World Conservation Congress to be held in Abu Dhabi, October 2025. The series entitled “Classroom to Congress” examines proposed motions by the Global Center for Environmental Legal Studies (GCELS) at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University on a variety of environmental issues to be decided at the Congress. The articles in this series were developed through a guided research program for Pace | Haub Environmental Law students taught by Professor Achinthi Vithanage.
As Dorothy famously said in The Wizard of Oz, “we’re not in Kansas anymore” – we’re entering a new era of public health marked by emerging infectious diseases, rising antibiotic resistance, and declining vaccination rates. From Ebola to COVID-19 to bird flu, we’re navigating a world of unexpected dangers, where each new outbreak feels like another wicked storm on the horizon. But what if, much like Dorothy’s quest to find her way home, the key to preventing future outbreaks lies in a place we’ve overlooked? In this post, we’ll explore how conservation efforts might be a missing piece of the puzzle, helping us safeguard both our health and the planet’s fragile ecosystems from the next big threat.
COVID-19 had devastating impacts, resulting in the deaths of millions and costing the global economy approximately $15.8 trillion — a figure that is roughly 500 times the anticipated cost of preventative measures. With recent measles outbreaks in the United States and the evolving threat of bird flu, the risk of future public health crises remains high.
“Cost of zoonotic disease control” by ILRI is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Alarmingly, anthropogenic global changes are magnifying the intensity and frequency of diseases. Research suggests that land use transformations, climate change, and biodiversity loss are simultaneously creating more disease-prone landscapes and increasing human exposure to pathogens. This is especially concerning because 75% of novel or emerging infectious diseases (e.g., COVID-19) are zoonotic in origin, meaning they originated in animals. Moreover, human-animal interfaces are prime real estate for spillover events, where species-specific pathogens infect a novel host species. However, greater biodiversity can help regulate disease transmission; you may think of biodiversity as a traffic light at a busy intersection, managing the flow of traffic and reducing collisions. Thus, human activities that reduce biodiversity and cause rapid environmental degradation can increase the prevalence of infectious diseases.
“7 manmade drivers for zoonotic pandemics risk” by ILRI is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
Given the complex dynamics of pathogens and disease systems, many organizations have adopted the One Health approach when tackling disease control because it calls for cross-sector collaboration and informs good policy.
Over the past few decades, the One Health approach gained considerable traction within many different health or health-adjacent sectors. Widely embraced by international organizations, such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the One Health framework and its acceptance signals a growing recognition that public health issues are shaped by a complex web of factors, and that addressing them effectively requires multidisciplinary, collaborative efforts. At its core, One Health acknowledges that effective health policies must go beyond treating symptoms in traditional clinical settings. Instead, policies must also consider the deep interconnectedness of human, animal, and environmental health to support both prevention and treatment.
“One-Health-Triad-en” by Thddbfk is licensed under CC-BY-SA 4.0.
The IUCN is a global membership union bringing together government and civil society organizations to advance sustainable development and conserve nature. Between October 9th and October 15th, 2025, IUCN will host its World Conservation Congress in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The Congress serves as IUCN’s main decision-making forum, where members submit and debate policy proposals (also known as “motions”), urging specific action or highlighting significant environmental challenges. If adopted, these motions become official “resolutions” that guide IUCN’s policies and often lay the groundwork for international environmental agreements.
From Classroom to Congress
Under the guidance of Professors Achinthi Vithanage and Nicholas Robinson, and as part of Pace’s Global Center for Environmental Legal Studies, we drafted a motion urging IUCN to utilize conservation efforts more effectively in preventing the spread of zoonotic diseases, including:
- Identifying and monitoring disease risk
- Advancing Nature-Based Solutions
- Advocating for Multidisciplinary Cooperation
- Strengthening Local Partnerships and Educational Outreach Programs
Professor Robinson, in a recent discussion with us, emphasized the critical need for cross-sector collaboration in global conservation efforts:
IUCN needs to bolster its conservation alliances with other sectors, such as public health and veterinary practices. No one sector alone can avert the next pandemic. All sectors need to collaborate together. The “One Health” approach must be expanded to include biological conservation of wild habitats, not just care for sanitary markets or the health of domestic animals. We must all stop the spillover of pathogens in the wild.
His insights underscore the urgency behind IUCN taking action and reconceptualizing the One Health approach to better integrate ecosystem protection into global health strategies.
After submitting the motion to IUCN and garnering support from its members, the IUCN Motions Working Group requested that we merge our motion due to overlap with submissions from the Wildlife Conservation Society, la Société Française pour le Droit de l’Environnement, and Margaret Pyke Trust. As a result, our motion merged into two separate motions:
(1) Motion 098: the One Health approach for biodiversity, health and global cooperation
(2) Motion 099: Implementation of the One Health approach, from global to local
These motions preserve the core provisions of our original proposal while broadening the discussion of the One Health approach. Both motions have been accepted by IUCN and will be subject to an electronic vote by its members ahead of the upcoming Congress, scheduled to take place between August 26 and September 10.
Identifying & Monitoring Disease Risk
Each motion focuses on prevention and risk assessment, calling for comprehensive risk assessments of human activities impacting wildlife habitats to inform policies that minimize zoonotic spillovers. Motion 098 specifically urges the IUCN’s Director General to provide a progress report to the next World Congress on the implementation of the Addendum to the IUCN Programme 2021-2024, focusing on identifying best practices, nature-based solutions, and management techniques.
Motion 099 encourages governmental agencies to further engage with environmental impact assessments (EIAs), which are designed to evaluate a proposed activity’s potential environmental impact and to promote environmentally responsible decision-making. EIAs are widely used among governments and recognized as customary law. However, current EIAs fail to take into account spillover risk or monitor the spread of zoonotic diseases resulting from habitat alteration.
Heat map illustrating the probability of an emerging infectious disease event. Source: Allen et al., “Global hotspots and correlates of emerging zoonotic diseases.” Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
Ongoing scientific research focuses on quantifying disease risk, identifying hotspots, and mapping the distribution of emerging infectious diseases. Monitoring these risks alongside known drivers of emerging infectious diseases is crucial when it comes to allocating conservation resources, designing outreach programs, and shaping policies aimed at mitigating disease transmission.
During our recent conversation with Professor Robinson, he stressed the importance of prevention:
One clear pathway to prevent infections that cause pandemics is to identify them before they happen. Virtually all nations have enacted laws requiring the assessment of environmental impacts before acting, known as EIAs. We should require robust use of EIAs to look for and protect natural habitats from which virus and bacteria could be disturbed and then infect humans. We need to ‘look before we leap.’
Accordingly, Motion 099 calls for IUCN members and government agencies to build upon existing legal frameworks to better address and identify zoonotic risks. This targeted focus is supported by existing guidance under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), which emphasizes the integration of biodiversity considerations in One Health approaches. CBD’s guidance outlines methods for EIAs to enhance habitat health and prevent zoonotic spillover, such as integrating:
(1) indicators to identify wide-ranging health impacts resulting from anthropogenic changes which cause biodiversity loss;
(2) indicators for ecosystem degradation, disruption, and fragmentation, and human health outcomes; and
(3) indicators to explore the links between biodiversity loss, ecosystem disruption, and zoonotic and vector-borne disease outbreaks.
A growing body of interdisciplinary research supports this approach, underscoring the need to embed zoonotic risk assessment within EIAs as a proactive public health and environmental strategy.
Advancing Nature-Based Solutions
Currently, the IUCN has a platform called PANORAMA – Solutions for a Healthy Planet, which provides details about conservation projects and the implementation of nature-based solutions. However, its coverage under the One Health category remains relatively limited, featuring only fifty-one entries that offer minimal details. Motion 099 calls upon IUCN to expand the PANORAMA platform by increasing the number of entries related to emerging infectious diseases and enhancing the specificity of individual case studies, thereby improving public access to this information and aiding the replication of successful solutions in other regions.
Advocating for Multidisciplinary Cooperation
Despite the One Health approach’s global popularity, which aims to “sustainably balance and optimize the health of people, animals and ecosystems,” the roles and responsibilities associated with it are often isolated within different sectors. As a result, conservation efforts are not fully integrated into the broader strategy. For example, WHO adopted the Pandemic prevention, preparedness and response agreement, but the agreement omits biological conservation from its mitigation measures. Therefore, each motion advocates for strengthened global multidisciplinary cooperation and encourages further integration of biological conservation into One Health implementation measures.
Strengthening Local Partnerships and Educational Outreach Programs
Regional partnerships and community engagement are essential for mitigating the spread of zoonosis and promoting conservation because it increases awareness and improves preventative practices. Regional partnerships can leverage local expertise, promote grassroot efforts, and enhance educational opportunities for local communities. Research indicates that health education initiatives are crucial in disease control, revealing that individuals are more capable of addressing diseases when they are well-informed and provided with the necessary resources.
Currently, IUCN employs some educational outreach programs as part of their One Health and PANORAMA Species Conservation initiatives. However, these programs are generally limited to Central Asia and provide little information on the inherent risks associated with interactions between humans and disease reservoirs. Therefore, Motion 098’s strategy includes expanding these educational programs to include more regions, such as South America and East Africa, that would greatly benefit from similar partnerships. By creating a deeper understanding of these risks, the motion aims to empower communities to take informed mitigation actions, ultimately improving public health outcomes and fostering healthier ecosystems.
Motion 098 takes an important, if understated, step towards promoting inclusivity and equity. Most significantly, the motion encourages equitable regional partnerships, and acknowledges the importance of engaging indigenous communities when designing programs.
Striving for a Greener, Healthier Future
Overall, each motion aims to strengthen preventative measures against future pandemics and bolster the One Health approach in a way that reflects the growing recognition of the links between health, biodiversity, and conservation. By strengthening risk assessments, expanding nature-based solutions, and fostering international cooperation, we can build a more resilient, healthier future for both people and the planet. It’s time for global leaders and organizations to take bold action: together, we can follow the yellow brick road of prevention, mitigate the spread of zoonotic diseases and protect the ecosystems that sustain us all.
If you are interested in further exploring zoonotic risks and One Health, we suggest you see the 2020 UNEP Report: Preventing the Next Pandemic.
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This publication was created with assistance from AI tools. The content has been reviewed and edited by a human. For more information on the extent and nature of AI usage, please contact the author. For more information on Pace University’s policy on AI, see here.
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