Large land deals have become a risk factor for pandemics

“We see business as usual that continues to destroy rainforests and natural habitats.” So concludes the third and latest analytical report of the Land Matrix Initiative, an independent network that documents and monitors large-scale agricultural land deals around the globe. They warn that the land rush and its consequences have taken on “in part alarming” proportions – and that a potential post-Covid boom could further accelerate these developments. This would also increase the risk of new pandemics, says CDE scientist Markus Giger, one of the main authors of the report.