About this Research Topic
*The Smithsonian Institution has offered to cover the publication costs of most, if not all, of the papers accepted for this Research Topic.*
Wild animals seem to be involved in the epidemiology of most zoonoses (infectious diseases transmitted between people and other animals), and serve as major reservoirs for the transmission of zoonotic agents to domestic animals and humans. It's likely that the human animal has always been susceptible to infectious diseases originating in wildlife and these diseases play a driving role in the evolution of Homo sapiens. Presently, the large spatio-temporal scale of environmental degradation coupled with the globalization of trade and travel create conditions that make zoonoses a major public health problem, globally. Efforts to increase public awareness of the potential for wildlife to transmit zoonotic pathogens with high morbidity and mortality risk may instill or amplify fear of wildlife and the natural environment in general (biophobia). For example, due to increased reporting of rare but potentially problematic zoonotic diseases associated with bats, bat biophobia has become major threat to bat conservation. Fear drives people to kill bats and destroy their roost sites. There is a need to facilitate public awareness of zoonoses-related issues while simultaneously promoting biophilia.
This Research Topic will explore how zoonoses prevention efforts can consciously and actively promote biophilia (wildlife affinity and conservation) rather than biophobia. Facilitating public biophilia is in-and-of-itself a zoonotic disease prevention measure; protecting and restoring natural ecosystems, which can only happen when they are highly valued, is the most fundamental ('upstream') approach to preventing zoonotic spillover. We anticipate that Traditional Ecological Knowledge, narrative storytelling, social marketing, and other approaches to human behavior changes based on holistic approaches to human values/needs alignment can offer insights and strategies for addressing this pressing, complex problem at the interface of conservation and public health.
We are particularly interested in papers that empirically investigate how zoonotic pathogen risk can be mitigated in conjunction with activities that instill biophilia toward zoonotic pathogen hosts. Papers will also be considered that present/evaluate:
1) Accounts of biophobic responses to zoonotic pathogen risk resulting in harm to wildlife host species. Include a section on lessons learned applicable to instilling host biophilia.
2) Case studies of specific initiatives promoting biophilia in the zoonotic risk mitigation context. Analyze project effectiveness from ecological and social perspectives.
3) Models for facilitating biophilia in the zoonotic risk mitigation context. Include guidance for testing/applying these models.
4) Methods for developing effective social marketing campaigns and other approaches for instilling biophilia in the zoonoses risk mitigation context. Review the science that underpins the method(s) and distinguish between field-tested and proposed methods.
All papers should emphasize conservation goals/outcomes.
This Research Topic was developed in collaboration with the IUCN Commission on Education and Communication (https://www.iucn.org/our-union/commissions/commission-education-and-communication) and the International Alliance Against Health Risks in the Wildlife Trade (https://alliance-health-wildlife.org).
Direct inquiries about other manuscripts themes/types to Dr. Jamie K. Reaser at Reaserjk@si.edu
Wild animals seem to be involved in the epidemiology of most zoonoses (infectious diseases transmitted between people and other animals), and serve as major reservoirs for the transmission of zoonotic agents to domestic animals and humans. It's likely that the human animal has always been susceptible to infectious diseases originating in wildlife and these diseases play a driving role in the evolution of Homo sapiens. Presently, the large spatio-temporal scale of environmental degradation coupled with the globalization of trade and travel create conditions that make zoonoses a major public health problem, globally. Efforts to increase public awareness of the potential for wildlife to transmit zoonotic pathogens with high morbidity and mortality risk may instill or amplify fear of wildlife and the natural environment in general (biophobia). For example, due to increased reporting of rare but potentially problematic zoonotic diseases associated with bats, bat biophobia has become major threat to bat conservation. Fear drives people to kill bats and destroy their roost sites. There is a need to facilitate public awareness of zoonoses-related issues while simultaneously promoting biophilia.
This Research Topic will explore how zoonoses prevention efforts can consciously and actively promote biophilia (wildlife affinity and conservation) rather than biophobia. Facilitating public biophilia is in-and-of-itself a zoonotic disease prevention measure; protecting and restoring natural ecosystems, which can only happen when they are highly valued, is the most fundamental ('upstream') approach to preventing zoonotic spillover. We anticipate that Traditional Ecological Knowledge, narrative storytelling, social marketing, and other approaches to human behavior changes based on holistic approaches to human values/needs alignment can offer insights and strategies for addressing this pressing, complex problem at the interface of conservation and public health.
We are particularly interested in papers that empirically investigate how zoonotic pathogen risk can be mitigated in conjunction with activities that instill biophilia toward zoonotic pathogen hosts. Papers will also be considered that present/evaluate:
1) Accounts of biophobic responses to zoonotic pathogen risk resulting in harm to wildlife host species. Include a section on lessons learned applicable to instilling host biophilia.
2) Case studies of specific initiatives promoting biophilia in the zoonotic risk mitigation context. Analyze project effectiveness from ecological and social perspectives.
3) Models for facilitating biophilia in the zoonotic risk mitigation context. Include guidance for testing/applying these models.
4) Methods for developing effective social marketing campaigns and other approaches for instilling biophilia in the zoonoses risk mitigation context. Review the science that underpins the method(s) and distinguish between field-tested and proposed methods.
All papers should emphasize conservation goals/outcomes.
This Research Topic was developed in collaboration with the IUCN Commission on Education and Communication (https://www.iucn.org/our-union/commissions/commission-education-and-communication) and the International Alliance Against Health Risks in the Wildlife Trade (https://alliance-health-wildlife.org).
Direct inquiries about other manuscripts themes/types to Dr. Jamie K. Reaser at Reaserjk@si.edu
Keywords: biodiversity, biophobia, biophilia, conservation, infectious disease, disease prevention, risk mitigation, zoonoses, zoonotic disease
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
