NEW YORK, May 20, 2025 – The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) issued the following remarks upon adoption by the World Health Organization (WHO) of a groundbreaking International Agreement on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response. This marks the first time countries from around the world have united behind a plan to prevent, prepare for, and respond to catastrophic pandemics. WCS welcomed the agreement which was adopted by consensus today in Geneva. Over the ne...

New York, Feb. 21, 2025 – WCS this week called for Member States of the World Health Organization (WHO) to adopt a legally binding Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response Agreement that includes a robust and ambitious focus on preventing pandemics at the source. Negotiations for the agreement are ongoing, with the final talks to take place April 7-11 in Geneva at the WHO. If governments can reach consensus, the agreement will be adopted at the World Health Assembly in May at...

GENEVA, SUI (May 11, 2024) – The following statement was released by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS): “Member States of the World Health Organization (WHO) were due to converge on text for a global pandemic agreement during their ninth and final negotiating session in March; however, insufficient progress was made in those two weeks, in terms of finding consensus. Rather than throw in the towel, the Member States decided to add ten negotiating days to the calenda...

Environmental leaders from 185 countries will gather in Vancouver, Canada for the Seventh Assembly of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) from August 22-26.

Scientists from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), the Ministry of Environment, and the Ministry of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries of the Royal Government of Cambodia have documented the first case of lumpy skin disease (LSD) in wildlife in Cambodia.

NEW YORK, JULY 17, 2023 – The Wildlife Conservation Society issued the following comments in response to the new European Parliament resolution on COVID-19 Pandemic: Lessons Learned and Recommendations for the Future. This new resolution was adopted by the European Parliament in a Plenary session on 12 July 2023 and sets out a roadmap to better prevent, prepare, and respond to future health crises, including pandemics of zoonotic origin. Said Dr. Susan Lieberman, WCS Vice President, ...

A new paper in the journal The Lancet Planetary Health makes the case that pandemic prevention requires a global taboo whereby humanity agrees to leave bats alone—to let them have the habitats they need, undisturbed.

The June 2023 issue of National Geographic devotes 24 pages to the complex issue of bushmeat consumption in the Congo Basin, and highlights WCS initiatives that address the worrying threat of the soaring urban demand for wild protein.

A new study led by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) identified a viral hotspot in Viet Nam where bat roosting sites, bat guano harvesting, and pig farms are all in close proximity.

WCS will hold a media briefing featuring a panel of experts discussing High Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) that is currently wreaking havoc around the world and is the largest known outbreak since scientists have begun tracking the disease.