Virus Hampers Conservation Work On Critical Species: Survey

Forty per cent of conservationists said the pandemic negatively affected their job or career, with 22 per cent reporting their organisations planned to eliminate jobs

The COVID-19 pandemic and its associated lockdowns have severely disrupted critical species conservation activities and fieldwork worldwide, according to a survey of more than 300 conservationists in 85 countries.

The survey, conducted by the Mohamed Bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund or MBZ Fund, found the pandemic had affected the ability of 83 per cent of conservationists to conduct critical fieldwork, while 70 per cent said planned conservation activities had been cancelled or postponed. Based in Abu Dhabi, the MBZ Fund is a philanthropic endowment providing small grants of up to US$25,000 to individual species conservation initiatives. Since 2009, the Fund has provided over $20 million to more than 2,100 projects, supporting more than 1,300 different species and subspecies.