The Consequences of COVID-19 and Other Disasters for Wildlife and Biodiversity

Abstract

We review the economic channels by which the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent policy responses may affect wildlife and biodiversity. The pandemic is put in the context of more than 5,000 disease outbreaks, natural disasters, recessions and armed conflicts in a sample of 21 high biodiversity countries. The most salient feature of the pandemic is its creation of multiple income shocks to rural and coastal households in biodiverse countries, correlated across sectors of activities and spatially. Various research and policy opportunities and challenges are explored .

Full text

Vol.:(0123456789)
Environmental and Resource Economics (2020) 76:945–961
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10640-020-00480-7
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The Consequences ofCOVID‑19 andOther Disasters
forWildlife andBiodiversity
DanielRondeau1 · BriannaPerry1· FranqueGrimard2
Accepted: 11 July 2020 / Published online: 10 August 2020
© Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract
We review the economic channels by which the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent pol-
icy responses may affect wildlife and biodiversity. The pandemic is putin the context of
more than 5,000 disease outbreaks, natural disasters, recessions and armed conflicts in a
sample of 21 high biodiversity countries. The most salient feature of the pandemic is its
creation of multiple income shocks to rural and coastal households in biodiverse countries,
correlated across sectors of activities and spatially. Various research and policy opportuni-
ties and challenges are explored .
Keywords COVID-19· Biodiversity· Pandemic· Disasters· Conflicts· Poverty· Food
insecurity· Risk· Correlated shocks
1 Introduction
The COVID-19 pandemic is a stochastic shock simultaneously affecting individuals,
households, firms and institutions globally. As of July 2020, more than 11 million cases of
infections and 500,000 deaths have been confirmed worldlwide (Johns Hopkins University
Coronavirus Resource Center 2020), and the daily case count is increasing exponentially.
The policy response has been equally sweeping. International travel restrictions and lock-
downs have significantly curtailed economic activity and USD$9 trillion in emergency fis-
cal measures have been deployed by 198 countries (IMF 2020).1
* Daniel Rondeau
rondeau@uvic.ca
Brianna Perry
briannanpperry@gmail.com
Franque Grimard
franque.grimard@mcgill.ca
1 Department ofEconomics, University ofVictoria, Victoria, Canada
2 Department ofEconomics, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
1 Unless otherwise specified, terms like “the pandemic”, and “the COVID-19 event” refer to the combina-
tion of health, policy and economic disruptions.
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