Natural History Museum Berlin

We are thrilled to announce that the Alliance will be co-hosting the launch of the Quadripartite’s awaited Joint Plan of Action on Tuesday, 18th October, starting at 18:00 CEST in the Dinosaur Room of the Natural History Museum in Berlin.

The event is co-organized by the four Quadripartite organizations (FAO, UNEP, WHO and WOAH) with support from the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, the Museum für Naturkunde, and the Foundation Healthy Planet – Healthy People.

The One Health Joint Plan of Action (OH JPA) was developed in response to international requests to prevent future pandemics and to promote health sustainably through the One Health approach. It outlines the commitment of the Quadripartite four organizations to collectively advocate and support the implementation of One Health. It builds on, complements and adds value to existing global and regional One Health and coordination initiatives aimed at strengthening capacity to address complex multidimensional health risks with more resilient health systems at global, regional and national level.

The plan includes six action tracks: enhancing countries’ capacity to strengthen health systems under a One Health approach; reducing the risks from emerging or re-emerging zoonotic epidemics and pandemics; controlling and eliminating endemic zoonotic, neglected tropical and vector-borne diseases; strengthening the assessment, management and communication of food safety risks; curbing the silent pandemic of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and better integrating the environment into the One Health approach.

*Please be advised that a registration does not guarantee on-site attendance. We will review your registration and respond with further information before the event. All registered participants will receive online access to the event via a live stream.

The High-Level Advocacy Event will serve as an occasion for the Quadripartite members and government representatives to present the plan and discuss the opportunities for implementation, followed by an informal exchange. The program includes:

Moderator:

• Constanze Riedle, Head of Programme, “International Alliance against Health Risks in Wildlife Trade”, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH

Introduction and Welcome

• Svenja Schulze, Minister, German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development

Keynote Address

• Wilhelmina Jallah, Minister of Health, Republic of Liberia (tbc)

Panel Discussion

• Chadia Wannous, One Health Global Coordinator, World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH)
• Francesco Branca, Director, Nutrition and Food Safety, World Health Organization (WHO)
• Keith Sumption, Chief Veterinary Officer, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
• Wondwosen Asnake KIBRET, Policy and Partnerships Coordinator, Europe Office, UN Environment Program (UNEP)
• Thomas C. Mettenleiter, President, Federal Research Institute for Animal Health and Co-Chair of the OH High Level Expert Panel (OHHLEP)

Closing Remark

• Cem Özdemir, Minister, German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture

The Alliance’s new online series “Voices from the Ground” format is exclusively for Alliance members and represents the diversity of local realities. This format will create a safe space that is trustworthy to share experiences, solutions and challenges and shall foster the exchange within the Alliance community. During these session incongruences between science and implementation, theory and practice, including Indigenous Peoples knowledge, can be addressed. As well as practical challenges and solutions on the ground, such as questions deriving from economic dependence from wildlife trade, cultural and religious values and traditions, or the faulty implementation of policies shall be discussed – so that all voices will be heard! 

Join our 1^st “Voices from the Ground Session” with WCS Viet Nam on May 12th at 2pm CEST.

If you and your partners are also interested in contributing to a “Voices from the Ground Session”, please let us know.  

Dear members of the International Alliance against Health Risks in Wildlife,

It’s been a while since our Inception Workshop in June 2021 where we presented the Alliance and discussed issues still to elaborate and things to do with many of you. We are thrilled your number has been growing, and that you, along with some 94 organizations from the international political sphere, from the non-governmental and scientific community as well as representatives from governments, have signaled your keen interest to be part of this Alliance, initiated by the German Federal Government, specifically Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and the Federal Ministry for Environment Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection.

Since June a lot has happened:

• the Alliance was officially launched at the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Marseille in early September;
• we launched our first learning and dialogue formats for our members and
• carried out an initial call for proposals, whose selected projects have started their work around the globe,
• and, most importantly, the Incubation Group has elaborated the Alliance’s Vision and Mission and is currently finalizing its governance and membership model.

These results will serve as the foundation, on which to build the Alliance as interdisciplinary, international and inclusive platform to share knowledge and move implementation forward. To present to you this and jointly consider the way forward, we cordially invite you to join

our first Alliance plenary meeting on March 22 from 14:00 – 16:00 CET. 

Identifying and reducing human health risks from wildlife trade needs an internationally coordinated and cooperative approach. To this end, the International Alliance against Health Risks in Wildlife Trade serves as an inclusive and interdisciplinary platform to discuss challenges and formulate solutions vis-á-vis human-wildlife interfaces and associated health risks and the emergence and spread of zoonotic pathogens from wildlife.

During this online session Dr. Catherine Machalaba will give insights into how to operationalize One Health approaches for more coordinated, preventive, and cost-effective systems that promote human, animal, and environmental health given their integral links. As part of these efforts, Catherine works closely on One Health initiatives with a range of governmental and intergovernmental partners and initiatives. She was a lead author of the World Bank One Health Operational Framework published in 2018.

International Animal Rescue Indonesia – tools and methods for conducting zoonotic disease risk assessments of wildlife markets in Indonesia.

If you are working on this yourself, or within your organization, or are struggling with similar questions and challenges, please join this session and share your own experiences, offer advice and get to know each other at this lowkey collegial event. 

If you would yourself like to discuss your project or topic with the community, get in touch so we can set up the next matchmaking session with you. This exchange can be a first step towards building partnerships or serve as a sounding board for your upcoming projects or ideas.  

Identifying and reducing human health risks from wildlife trade needs an internationally coordinated and cooperative approach. To this end, the International Alliance against Health Risks in Wildlife Trade serves as an inclusive and interdisciplinary platform to discuss challenges and formulate solutions vis-á-vis human-wildlife interfaces and associated health risks and the emergence and spread of zoonotic pathogens from wildlife.

During this online session Richard Kock and Hernán Cáceres-Escobar shared their insights from investigating the links between wildlife and the emergence of human infectious zoonoses and EIDs. They are both lead authors of the upcoming “Situation analysis on the roles and risks of wildlife in the emergence of human infectious diseases” by the IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC). As member of the Alliance, you may access their “Highlights” in the Alliance’s Library.

Identifying and reducing human health risks from wildlife trade needs an internationally coordinated and cooperative approach. To this end, the International Alliance against Health Risks in Wildlife Trade serves as an inclusive and interdisciplinary platform to discuss challenges and formulate solutions vis-á-vis human-wildlife interfaces and associated health risks and the emergence and spread of zoonotic pathogens from wildlife.

At this event Dr. Craig Stephen will share his insights from reviewing the evidence how to manage the risk of disease emergence in the wildlife trade. You may download the full review by the World Health Organization (OIE) from the Alliance’s Library. He will speak about how confronting the threat of emerging infectious diseases will require adaptive management that is multifaceted and searches for systemic solutions. One challenge clearly lies in reducing the threat of emerging diseases while concurrently improving health, equity, and well-being for all species.

Wildlife around the globe is under intense pressure from human activity and over-exploitation.

Illegal and unsustainable wildlife trade, poor governance, and corruption have significant negative impacts on ecosystems (e.g. deforestation, forest degradation) and the loss of multiple wild species, affecting the integrity of whole ecosystems, contributing to climate change, and negatively impacting local livelihoods, economic development, and security.

The current COVID-19 pandemic and other disease outbreaks of zoonotic origin such as SARS and Ebola clearly demonstrate the critical need to apply a truly trans-sectoral One Health approach, as a matter of urgency. Efforts must be focused on preventing pandemics of zoonotic origin at their source – in other words, stopping them at the point of spillover of pathogens from animals to humans, well before they can become local outbreaks, epidemics, or global pandemics.

This webinar – organised by the MEPs for Wildlife in partnership with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), Humane Society International/Europe (HSI) and the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) – will discuss the on-the-ground impact of markets for live wildlife, particularly for human consumption, and associated wildlife trade (either from the wild or breeding facilities), the links to biodiversity, climate, security, and health and how to address these threats through an integrated One Health approach.