Version March 24th  2020 

Dr Peter JS Jones, Reader in Environmental Governance, Department of Geography, University College London (UCL). P.J.Jones@ucl.ac.uk;

Professor Rick Stafford, Professor of Marine Biology and Conservation, University of Bournemouth.

This blog has now been developed into an article in the Ecologist magazine    Click here to read the article (13/4/2020)

Reflecting on the COvid-19 pandemic from a governance perspective it is clear that when society faces a real crisis that needs strong coordinated action, it looks to the state and to scientific and medical experts for effective measures, along with cooperation amongst people in civil society backed up, if necessary, by police enforcement and military support with food deliveries and other societal needs in such a crisis. This is all recognised as necessary in order to achieve the common good of managing the rate of new infections in this severe pandemic, as well as related priorities, such as keeping people supplied with food and medication. The private sector plays an important role in various ways, such as ensuring food supplies in the face of selfish freeriding panic buyers and reconfiguring companies to produce ventilators and other medical needs, but many private sector companies are forced to look to the state for a rescue package of loans, bail outs [Jack 2020] or even, in the case of the UK’s train operators, what in effect amounts to re-nationalisation [Gov.UK 2020]. Some libertarians complain about this all being an excuse for state control of our lives, but few take this seriously, as we are facing a real crisis that gravely threatens societal wellbeing. We also recognise the need for cooperation amongst countries to provide for coordinated international action to reduce the spread of the pandemic, along with related international cooperation, such as the sharing of Covid-19 epidemiological and research data.

Looking back over our shoulders, it is becoming clear that one of the reasons that Covid-19 is leading to such severe and even fatal respiratory symptoms is that it is a zoonotic virus, the genetic signature of which is unknown to our immune systems, delaying our ability to develop antibodies that can fight the infection. It seems increasingly likely that it is the illegal trade in endangered animals such as bats and pangolins through inhumane ‘wet markets’ in China and Southeast Asia that is the vector for such transmissions between species and for ultimately crossing over to infect humans. The extremely high risks of such zoonotic virus outbreaks were indicated by previous outbreaks, such as highly pathogenic avian influenza related to the HN51 virus in 1996. The related extreme risks posed by the wildlife trade for a future coronavirus outbreak, particularly associated with wet markets in southern China, were warned of as a “time-bomb” over ten years ago [Cheng et al 2007], this being seen by many as a facet of global threats to ecosystems and biodiversity [UNEP 2020]. The Chinese government has now banned all such wet markets and related wildlife trades, but it is unlikely that such a reactive approach will be effective in the short-term, potentially driving this illegal wildlife trade underground, where much related trade is already conducted. A better approach would have been to heed these warnings from experts and take a strategic approach to reducing this trade through proactive measures, such as awareness-raising and gradual regulatory restrictions.

Looking forward, one consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic is looking increasingly likely to be a deep and prolonged economic recession and it seems likely that a return to Keynesian state intervention in markets, including the rebuilding of the welfare state and a new spirit of international cooperation through the United Nations, World Trade Organisation, etc. will be as necessary to rebuild our economies and societies as it was after the 1929 crash following the first world war [Elliott 2020]. More recently, a lack of state regulation of markets was widely accepted as a key cause of the 2008 economic crash [The Economist 2008] but it seems that it could take this major international pandemic crisis to really seal recognition of the importance of the state and of international cooperation in achieving a stable economy and our societal well-being.

When things return to ‘normal’ and calls resume to shrink the state, ignore ‘so called experts’, revert to selfish national isolationism, recognise ‘that there is no such thing as society’, rely on the dynamism of the private sector, etc, remember what we relied on to address this crisis. Also, remember these times when we again start to hear arguments such as that climate change is best addressed through private sector action, that experts can’t be trusted, that the state should not interfere in trying to steer society and that societal behaviour can’t be changed overnight. In the Marvel movie Iron Man 3, Tony Stark triumphantly claims “I did you a favour: I have successfully privatised world peace.” One of the many lessons from this pandemic is that when we really face a crisis, it is the state we look to for concerted action and the people and civil society that we look to for cooperation and mutual support. Given related long-term challenges and the potential for even bigger systemic crises related to threats such as climate change and biodiversity loss, we should see this crisis as a major lesson from which we can learn to avoid or mitigate future such crises, i.e. it isn’t a corporate Iron Man that is likely to save us. Click here to read the article in the Ecologist