History, Culture, and Zoonosis: Mapping Common Ground

The COVID-19 pandemic has put wildlife into the spotlight as potential hosts of infectious bacteria and viruses. One of the proposed responses is stricter biodiversity conservation and wildlife protection. However, these are atomistic approaches and mostly focus on ecological systems with social systems as an afterthought, rather than taking the systemic approach needed for pandemic prevention and addressing zoonotic diseases at the social-ecological interface. In this digital event, we will talk about the ZooMap project and how it promotes understanding the role of history and culture in zoonosis by examining consumption of the Tarbagan marmot as a cultural practice in Mongolia, and the use of pangolin scales as traditional Chinese medicine drives trading of the Philippine pangolin.

This is a one-hour online event with presentation, panel discussion, and a brief workshop. After the presentation of the organizers, a panel discussion among key actors from Philippines and Mongolia will be facilitated. The online participants will also be involved in the panel discussion through Q&A. The last part of the event will allow participants to do a collaborative map by asking them to either draw, or obtain a photo of an endemic wildlife in their country. Using the question, “which endemic species in your country do you think has the potential for zoonotic spillover?”, the participants will then be asked to paste it on the digital map in order to create a visual representation of species diversity, its locality, and provocation for a future of living-with zoonotic risk.