1. SARS, Ebola, and SARS-CoV-2: all three of these highly infectious viruses have caused global panic since 2002, and all three of them jumped to humans from wild animals living in dense tropical forests that we are slashing and burning to create land for crops and housing. The more we clear, the more we come into contact with wildlife which hosts illnesses likely transferred to humans.

2. Stopping deforestation will not only reduce natural disasters but also control the spread of a long list of dangerous diseases that have come from rain forest habitats, including Zika, Nipah, malaria, cholera, HIV, and so on. A 2019 study found that a 10 percent increase in deforestation would raise malaria cases by 3.3 percent; that would be 7.4 million people worldwide. Meanwhile, an average of 28 million hectares of forest have been cut down annually since 2016, and there is no sign of a slowdown.

3. Societies can take numerous steps to prevent the destruction. Eating less meat, which improves our health anyway, will lessen demand for crops and pastures. Eating fewer processed foods will reduce the demand for palm oil, much of which is grown on land from tropical rain forests. Producing more food per hectare can boost supply without the need for more land.

4. In the meantime, governments should prohibit the sale of live wild animals in so-called wet markets, where disease-causing agents have repeatedly crossed over into humans. The markets may be culturally important, but the risk is too great. Governments must also ban illegal wildlife trade, which can spread infectious agents far and wide. In addition, authorities must examine factory farms that pack thousands of animals together - the source of the 2009 swine flu outbreak that killed more than 10,000 people in the U.S. and many more people worldwide.

5. Hopefully, ending deforestation and preventing pandemics can guarantee healthy lives, zero hunger, gender equality, responsible consumption and production, sustainably managed land, and climate action. The COVID-19 pandemic is a catastrophe, but it calls for our attention on the human achievements by not overexploiting the natural world.