Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Comment
  • Published:

Tackling climate change and deforestation to protect against vector-borne diseases

Nature Microbiology volume 8, pages 2220–2222 (2023)Cite this article

Subjects

The spread of vector-borne infectious diseases is driven by a complex array of environmental and social drivers, including climate and land-use changes. Global and regional action is urgently needed to tackle carbon emissions and deforestation to halt future outbreaks.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Multiple conditions must align to cause a vector-borne disease outbreak.

References

  1. McGuinness, S. L., Lau, C. L. & Leder, K. J. Travel Med. 30, taad029 (2023).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Mordecai, E. A. et al. Ecol. Lett. 22, 1690–1708 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  3. Siraj, A. S. et al. Science 343, 1154–1158 (2014).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Couper, L. I., MacDonald, A. J. & Mordecai, E. A. Glob. Change Biol. 27, 738–754 (2021).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Afrane, Y. A. et al. Emerg. Infect. Dis. 14, 1533–1538 (2008).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  6. Lowe, R. et al. Lancet Planet. Health 5, e209–e219 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Ngugi, H. N. et al. Parasit. Vectors 10, 331 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  8. Vittor, A. Y. et al. Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg. 81, 5–12 (2009).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Gürtler, R. E., del Pilar Fernández, M. & Cardinal, M. V. in Triatominae – The Biology of Chagas Disease Vectors (eds Guarneri, A. & Lorenzo, M.) 447–489 (Springer, 2021).

  10. O’Shea, H., Smith, Z. & Poole, K. Biden Administration lays out 30x30 vision to conserve nature. NRDC (6 May 2021); https://go.nature.com/3QE0BIl

  11. Payments for Ecosystem Services: Getting Started (Forest Trends, The Katoomba Group and UNEP, 2008).

  12. Cabrera, H., Planitzer, C., Yudelman, T. L. & Tua, J. Securing Sustainable Financing for Conservation Areas: A Guide to Project Finance for Permanence (World Bank Group, Amazon Sustainable Landscapes Program & WWF, 2021).

  13. Rocklöv, J. et al. Lancet Reg. Health 32, 100701 (2023).

    Google Scholar 

  14. Rohr, J. R. et al. Nature 619, 782–787 (2023).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Chaves, L. F. et al. Socio. Econ. Plan. Sci. 74, 100951 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to members of the Mordecai Lab at Stanford University for constructive feedback on the manuscript and to N. Nova for creating Fig. 1. I was funded by the National Science Foundation (DEB-2011147, with Fogarty International Center), the National Institutes of Health (R35GM133439, R01AI168097, R01AI102918), the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, and the Stanford Center for Innovation in Global Health. I would like to acknowledge the many authors whose work has expanded our scientific understanding of the impacts of global change on health.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    Erin A. Mordecai

Authors
  1. Erin A. Mordecai
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Erin A. Mordecai.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author declares no competing interests.

Peer review

Peer review information

Nature Microbiology thanks the anonymous reviewers for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Mordecai, E.A. Tackling climate change and deforestation to protect against vector-borne diseases. Nat Microbiol 8, 2220–2222 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-023-01533-5

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-023-01533-5

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing Microbiology

Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Microbiology newsletter — what matters in microbiology research, free to your inbox weekly.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing: Microbiology