Looking beyond land-use and land-cover change: Zoonoses emerge in the agricultural matrix

Emerging zoonoses (new infectious diseases where pathogens circulate between humans and domestic and wild animals) follow ecological and evolutionary processes that are becoming more common, undermining our ability to achieve the sustainable development goal of good health and well-being. Agriculture has been implied as a major force promoting emerging zoonoses. However, agricultural systems are variable, with some agricultural modes of production expressing social formations that condition biological interactions that can promote (or protect us from) the emergence of new zoonoses in the same way they destroy (or protect) species biodiversity. Consequently, the socioecological characteristics of the agricultural system influence the probability of zoonosis emergence. Here, we propose an approach to examining the relationship between agriculture and zoonoses that suggests that the agricultural matrix, within which other elements of the landscape are positioned, confers various degrees of landscape immunity. Highly simplified, homogeneous, and chemically intensive agricultural landscapes are unlikely to provide such immunity, while diverse agroecological matrices populated by small-/medium-scale farmers and a robust local food system likely will; i.e., they will decrease the probability of zoonosis emergence. In addition, such a landscape is also expected to enhance food sovereignty and security, mitigate climate change, reduce poverty, and protect biodiversity.