I was working out in the field when I heard that the virus first detected in Wuhan was

now recognized as a global pandemic.

I remember I felt a chill run through me, I thought, okay, it has arrived.

So my colleagues and I, from our research, we had always known that a pandemic could happen.

A zonarchic disease could emerge, but still it was a shock to find that it had happened

and that what we had been predicting and worrying about was now here.

Dr. Alessandro Navar.

Hi, I'm Lucy Jordan, here on the BBC World Service in Brazil.

I live in Sao Paulo where I work as a journalist.

For a few years now, I've been researching and writing about environmental issues, speaking

to scientists across the globe.

Like the rest of the world, here in Brazil we're still coming to terms with the COVID-19

pandemic.

When the pandemic kicked off, I became really fascinated by the theory that diseases that

start with animal hosts like Nipa, Swine, Flu, Ebola and now COVID-19 might be triggered

by human destruction of wildlife-rich habitats.

So I called Dr. Alessandro Navar, a veterinarian and researcher at Fierclaw's Amazonia who is

studying these interactions.

Dr. Navar lives in Manouse, four hours by plane from Sao Paulo.

I'm joining her to hear about her work looking for viruses in the Amazon and to explore how

damaging our environment might trigger another pandemic.

Coming up in Forest Fierce.

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