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Climate Change and Zoonotic Diseases: Global Trends, Local Realities – a Looming Pandemic Threat?

November 27 @ 7:00 am - 11:00 am EST
Climate Change and Zoonotic Diseases

Description

Thu, 27 Nov 2025, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm CET; 7 – 11 am ET Online

Climate change is accelerating the emergence and spread of zoonotic diseases by altering habitats, disrupting ecosystems, and intensifying human and wildlife interactions. Climate Change and economic and other factors are considered to increase pandemic risk by fostering the emergence of next and existing pathogens. Experts by now consider a new pandemic inevitable yet the understanding where new outbreaks may arise and how global and regional systems can respond still needs much attention. For this reason, the Interdisciplinary Expert Centre on Climate Change and Health (IECCCH) of the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Germany, is organizing an online expert seminar on Climate Change and Zoonotic Diseases this fall.

This IECCCH event will explore the intersection of climate change and zoonoses through a global lens, offering one session per continent to highlight region-specific risks, innovations in preparedness, and response strategies. Framed by the new Global Pandemic Agreement, lectures from all over the world providing timely insights into international pandemic risk management and their real-world implications.

Objectives

The event aims at the following:

•    Identify emerging zoonotic disease hotspots exacerbated by climate change
•    Examine early warning systems and regional preparedness across continents
•    Explore how the One Health approach is applied in different settings
•    Showcase innovations in prediction, surveillance, and citizen engagement
•    Stimulate cross-regional learning and global collaboration

Topics

The organizers call for contributions by presenters from academia and practice addressing one of the following four themes depicted below:

  • 1. Hotspots of Emerging Zoonotic Risk:
    Exploring how climate shifts drive habitat fragmentation, biodiversity loss, and spillover risks across continents (e.g., Nipah in Asia, Rift Valley fever in Africa, Hantavirus in Europe).
  • 2. Global Pandemic Preparedness and the New WHO Agreement:
    Critical reflections on international health regulations, surveillance, equity in response capacity, and lessons from COVID-19.
  • 3. One Health in Practice:
    How integrated approaches are being applied regionally to track, predict, and contain zoonotic threats combining veterinary science, climate monitoring, and public health.
  • 4. Technological Innovations and Citizen Engagement:
    Digital surveillance, AI, participatory mapping, and data-sharing platforms that support real-time detection and localized responses.

Organizers

The Interdisciplinary Expert Centre on Climate Change and Health (IECCCH) of the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Germany, is a research structure dedicated to the study of climatic, medical, and epidemiological aspects – including zoonoses and tropical diseases – related to climate change in order to generate an increase in the knowledge of the consequences of climatic changes for health, that may serve to develop policies and support appropriate adaptation measures.

More Information

HAW-Hamburg: Climate Change and Zoonotic Diseases: Global Trends, Local Realities – a Looming Pandemic Threat?

Registration

If you are interested in participating in this event, please register from here.