Interim Guidance on Reducing public health risks associated with the sale of live wild animals of mammalian species in traditional food markets

Traditional food markets, rather than supermarkets, are the norm in many parts of the world. Such markets form part of the social fabric of communities and are a main source of affordable fresh foods for many low-income groups and an important source of livelihoods for millions of urban and rural dwellers worldwide.

Traditional food markets that are regulated by national or local competent authorities and that operate to high standards of hygiene and sanitation are safe for workers and customers.
Significant problems can arise when these markets allow the sale and slaughter of live animals, especially wild animals, which cannot be properly assessed for potential risks – in
areas open to the public. When wild animals are kept in cages or pens, slaughtered and dressed in open market areas, these areas become contaminated with body fluids, faeces and other waste, increasing the risk of transmission of pathogens to workers and customers and potentially resulting in spill over of pathogens to other animals in the market.

Such environments provide the opportunity for animal viruses, including coronaviruses, to amplify themselves and transmit to new hosts, including humans.

Visit page

Related content

WildLabs Conservation Technology Community

WILDLABS is home to the global conservation technology community of 8,600 people in 120 countries discussing 1,500 topics like biologging, camera traps, and machine learning. With engaging spaces to ask questions and collaborate together, share your own work, and discover new ideas and innovations, WILDLABS is your platform to connect with #Tech4Wildlife experts and projects from around the world.

IWC Strandings Initiative

The IWC Strandings Initiative was established following a multi-disciplinary expert workshop in 2016. The workshop discussed how best to develop practical guidance on handling cetacean strandings and concluded that an international Strandings Initiative should be established under the auspices of the IWC, incorporating the skills and experiences of strandings experts from a range of different countries around the world.

One Health and Wildlife

In September 2021 the International Alliance against Health Risks and Wildlife Trade was launched as an inclusive and interdisciplinary platform at the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Marseille. Within the first year, more than 100 national and international political, academic and civil society organizations, have joined as members, confirming their commitment to our two central goals.

The Alliance is driven by evidence-based insight, and we address the entire wildlife trade spectrum: from hunting and handling, through trading to consuming wildlife and its products. To reduce the risks of future outbreaks, epidemics and pandemics.

The Alliance helps to join forces for a common cause and expand each member’s radius. We offer matchmaking among members to enable new collaboration and partnership. We translate scientific evidence and insights from local knowledge into concrete policy recommendations.

PANORAMA Species Conservation

Saving species comprehensively means preventing extinctions, conserving threatened species, and recovering depleted populations of more widespread and abundant species. There is ample evidence that conservation action works. Many species have been saved from extinction or had their status improved, native species and ecosystems have recovered following eradication of invasive alien species from islands, and habitats have been restored and rewilded. The last decade has seen an impressive array of innovation and new technologies, approaches, and solutions providing major opportunities to accelerate our collective impact on species conservation. By sharing experience and expertise, and committing the necessary resources more strategically, we can massively scale up success for species survival, recovery, and persistence at healthy levels.

For most threatened species, a combination of threat abatement and site protection will be enough to allow populations to recover. However, for some other species, typically those at highest risk of extinction, these measures alone will be insufficient. These species will require targeted interventions, for example through habitat management, supplementary feeding, provision of breeding sites, reintroduction into the wild, translocation, and ex-situ measures (captive breeding in zoos and aquaria, or propagation in botanic gardens).

The Species Conservation Solutions Thematic Community provides a platform for documenting species conservation success from all over the world. These case studies can be replicated, applied to inspire the best solutions for each species’ challenges, providing resources for the implementation of the Global Species Action Plan (GSAP).

Through PANORAMA, IUCN and EcoHealth Alliance initially aim to promote species conservation solutions with a focus on wildlife and human health, especially the link with zoonotic disease prevention, monitoring, detection and intervention.

One Health Joint Plan of Action (2022–2026)

The One Health Joint Plan of Action was launched by four partners – the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH, founded as OIE). This initiative seeks to improve the health of humans, animals, plants, and the environment, while contributing to sustainable development. The One Health Joint Plan of Action was developed through a participatory process and provides a set of activities to strengthen collaboration, communication, capacity building, and coordination across all sectors responsible for addressing health concerns at the human-animal-plant-environment interface.

IUCN SSC CPSG Species Conservation Planning Online Training Course

This is an introductory course to CPSG’s species conservation planning processes and tools. Our target audiences are government wildlife agency staff, IUCN SSC Specialist Group members, and other conservation professionals working in zoos, aquariums, universities or field programs, responsible for the development of species conservation plans. By the end of the course, participants will be able to: apply the CPSG Species Conservation Planning Principles and Steps to the design and facilitation of species conservation planning processes; demonstrate the role of the facilitator in consensus-based decision making; and select facilitation tools to help groups solve problems, make decisions, and develop plans. Click here to find out more about the course and how to apply to an upcoming session.

2022

Healthy people and wildlife through nature protection

Protected and conserved areas (PCAs) are affected by disease risks and impacts in wide-ranging ways, as demonstrated by recent epidemics and the global COVID-19 pandemic. Their potential role in disease prevention, detection, response, and recovery is significant, both to reduce spillover risks and to effectively prepare for disease events. This report provides an orientation for PCA managers on relevant sources of risk, with actions that can be taken to build up systems to manage disease threats across the variety of PCA contexts. A key message is that protected areas can – and should – play a vital role in One Health approaches to reduce disease risk and improve human, animal, and environmental health outcomes.

2014

Manual of procedures for wildlife disease risk analysis

This IUCN–OIE publication provides a ‘how-to’ guide that will be useful to the growing and diverse range of professionals involved in assessment and management of wildlife-associated disease risk scenarios. The document has been co-written by 22 specialists in the fields of wildlife disease ecology, epidemiology, risk analysis, modelling, disease surveillance, diagnostics, wildlife management, research, teaching and conservation planning. These authors have pooled their knowledge and experience to make tools and processes at the cutting edge of wildlife disease risk analysis accessible to a broad global audience in an effort to ensure healthy ecosystems through better decision making. This is a companion volume to the Guidelines for Wildlife Disease Risk Analysis.

2014

Guidelines for wildlife disease risk analysis

This IUCN-OIE publication provides an overview of the science-based processes and tools available for wildlife disease risk analysis and their application to a broad range of contemporary issues, including human-wildlife interactions, domestic animal-wildlife interactions and the impacts of massive ecological change on biodiversity conservation. The guidelines will be of value to those policy makers and decision makers faced with the social, political and technical complexities involved in wildlife-disease-associated scenarios.This is a companion volume to the Manual of Procedures for Wildlife Disease Risk Analysis.