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While the lockdowns in many countries have allowed animals to roam more freely, they have also cut off crucial sources of funding for conservation work and given poachers free rein to operate. With an increase in illegal killings and zoos at risk of running out of money to care for their animals, conservationists are hoping the pandemic can focus global attention on the need to protect biodiversity.

Many of us in lockdown have become more aware of nature. Conservationist Richard Corlett works at the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden in Yunnan, China, but he has spent the past few months in London. Normally he would hear constant noise from buses, aeroplanes and ferries. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e all gone,鈥� he says. 鈥淏irdsong is all I hear in the morning. This is the experience of tens of millions worldwide.鈥�

But the lockdown has crippled two crucial industries: ecotourism and legal trophy hunting. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the two main things that bring money to wildlife conservation,鈥� says Marine Drouilly, who works for the Panthera charity in Cape Town, South Africa.

The temporary loss of these industries means there is to pay rangers to guard threatened species from poachers, or to fund researchers (Biological Conservation, ). It also means such species are less valuable when alive, which could lead to local exploitation of threatened plants, animals or ecosystems.

As a result, problems are accumulating for conservationists. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no lockdown for rhino poachers or bushmeat traders,鈥� says Drouilly. She says the threatened rhinos in Kruger National Park are in serious danger of poaching. Furthermore, there is concern that people who have lost their incomes may resort to bushmeat hunting to support their families.

Illegal killings

In the Comoro Islands north-west of Madagascar, turtles are poached as part of a tradition that assigns social status to the men that eat them. In early May, local organisation reported finding on a beach. This followed the cancellation of beach patrols for a month due to coronavirus restrictions. Two poachers were later caught with more than 60 kilograms of turtle meat.

Meanwhile, in the UK, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds says it has received of illegal killings of threatened birds of prey since the UK鈥檚 lockdown began. The killing of such birds on moors used for recreational grouse shooting is a longstanding problem affecting hen harriers and other species, and many of the recent reported attacks took place .

However, worldwide, some conservation organisations have managed to continue with their normal operations. The works to help people and elephants live alongside each other. Chief executive Trevor Jones says the programme鈥檚 staff who work closely with local communities are taking precautionary measures, such as wearing masks and reducing the size of meetings, but that they have been able to carry on working.

However, the programme only has enough grant money to last a few more months and it is unclear if it will be able to obtain more. Many other organisations face similar cliff edges. If ecotourism and trophy hunting remain shut down for a year or more, the impact 鈥渃ould be disastrous鈥�, says Corlett.

The cliff edge

Zoos and aquariums have already been hard hit, says Mart铆n Zordan, chief executive officer of the in Barcelona, Spain. 鈥淢ost of our members, around 95 per cent, had to close their doors to the public,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the first time we鈥檝e seen something like this of this magnitude.鈥�

Zordan says no zoos have yet gone bankrupt. Some governments are providing aid to institutions. But if zoos cannot reopen, the will only get worse.

The priority is , as zoo populations are key to preserving threatened species, says Zordan. 鈥淎t the moment all animals are receiving the care they need,鈥� he says.

But if institutions run out of the money needed to care for them, captive animals cannot simply be released into the wild. The last resort is euthanasia. 鈥淗opefully we will not get to that point,鈥� says Zordan.

These problems are likely to be reduced in countries that are able to reopen their economies in coming months. But the biggest impact of the pandemic on conservation may end up being political in nature.

Geopolitical shifts

Before the pandemic, a major conservation summit was due to be held this October in Kunming, China: . Corlett describes this as 鈥渁 one-in-ten-year meeting鈥� that 鈥渨as going to set the global conservation agenda for the next 10 years鈥�. However, .

Ten years ago in Aichi, Japan, , such as halving the rate of loss of all natural habitats, and creating protected areas that span 17 per cent of terrestrial and inland water, and 10 per cent of coastal and marine areas. 鈥淲e鈥檝e made progress towards almost all the targets,鈥� says Corlett, but none of them has been met, and 鈥渋n some cases progress has been pretty low鈥�.

The initial mood going into this year鈥檚 planned meeting was mixed, says Corlett. was circulated in January and suggested targets such as expanding protected areas to cover 30 per cent of the world. Corlett says this was 鈥渘owhere near ambitious enough鈥� and that many governments were distracted by other issues 鈥� even before the covid-19 pandemic. 鈥淚 just don鈥檛 think by October people were going to take this seriously enough,鈥� he says.

So will the pandemic divert governments鈥� attention from biodiversity even further, or could it focus it? Conservationists are emphasising that the pandemic is ultimately the result of our over-exploitation of animals: the virus came to us from bats, possibly via . In response,聽China has shut down wild animal markets and may permanently ban all trade in wildlife in coming months.

Could more such actions follow? Corlett says he finds himself veering between optimism and pessimism. 鈥淲e need a global reset and maybe this will occur.鈥�