Background
The impact of human beings on our planet has increased tremendously in the past century, and will continue to increase in coming decades, as both the global human population and per capita consumption continue to grow. One of our greatest challenges of our time is to bring this human impact under control, and make a transition to a sustainable society.
As part of this sustainability transition, the governments of all EU countries pledged at the 2015 Climate Accord in Paris to reduce the output of greenhouse gases in 2030 by at least 40% compared to 1990, in order to keep global warming under 2 degrees Celsius. Climate change, including global warming, is not the only environmental limit for human society. Others include biological diversity, land-system change, freshwater use, and biogeochemical flows.
However, governments cannot make the sustainability transition alone. It requires all of human society, including governments, individuals, businesses, and associations, to work towards this goal. Important reasons for the EWDA to play an active role are that global climate change and anthropogenic alteration of natural systems are primary issues of concern for wildlife conservation; that EWDA can have more impact as an association than individuals, by sheer force of numbers; and that EWDA can help set a positive example for the greater global community.
Goal
To reduce the environmental impact of the EWDA as far as possible, while maintaining EWDA’s overall mission, and so contribute to the transition to a more sustainable human society.
Activities
1. To estimate the environmental impact (i.e. ecological and carbon footprints) of the EWDA every two years, and make these reports publicly available.
2. To exchange information with EWDA members about the level of environmental impact of different EWDA activities, and about possible actions to reduce them.
3. To propose to the EWDA board both targets for the reduction of EWDA’s environmental impact, and actions (accounting for personal and cultural differences) to reach these targets.
Committee members
Chair: Thijs Kuiken
Thijs Kuiken is Professor of Comparative Pathology at the Department of Viroscience of the Erasmus University Medical Centre in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Past studies have included leptospirosis in free-living rodents and cattle in the Netherlands, diseases and anthropogenic pollutants in marine mammals around the U.K., and Newcastle disease in cormorants in Canada. The current focus of his research is the pathogenesis of respiratory virus infections such as influenza and COVID-19 in humans, and the characterization of emerging viral diseases at the wildlife-human interface.
EWDA Conference Footprint Lead: Graham Smith
Graham Smith is Lead Scientist for the National Wildlife Management Centre, within the Animal and Plant Health Agency in the UK. He is responsible for directing and overseeing wildlife research on diseases in vertebrate populations, contingency planning and government policy advice. With over 30 years’ experience in mammal ecology, diseases and modelling and with a specific interest in rabies and bovine TB, he has also organized citizen science data collection apps. Graham has had a long interest in environmental sustainability and has promoted solar power across his housing estate.
Transformative-change-in-wildlife-health-research Lead: Ana Vale
Ana Vale is an Assistant Professor in Veterinary Public Health at School of Veterinary Medicine, University College Dublin. She obtained her DVM at Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Lisbon. Ana spent 8 years as a small animal clinician and in 2013, after completing a MVS in Conservation Medicine at Murdoch University, she moved to University College Dublin to undertake her PhD, and investigate antimicrobial resistance in animals including wildlife. Since 2018 she has worked as a lecturer in Microbiology. Ana’s research interests include One Health, antimicrobial resistance, zoonotic diseases and conservation medicine.
Newsletter Lead: Paule-Émilie Ruy
Paule-Émilie Ruy is a French wildlife health researcher who recently completed her
PhD in disease ecology in Ireland, focusing on the epidemiology of avian influenza
viruses in wild carnivores, Barnacle geese, and soil samples. With a background that
bridges biology and science communication, she holds an MSc in marine ecology and
conservation from an Erasmus Mundus program and a master’s degree in science
journalism from the École Supérieure de Journalisme de Lille. Her work combines field
research, laboratory analysis, and policy-relevant surveillance approaches to better
understand the ecology of zoonotic diseases in wildlife. Passionate about
interdisciplinary science and public engagement, she has been a member of the EWDA
Sustainability Committee since 2025 and currently leads the committee’s newsletter.
Secretary, EWDA Board Liaison and Webinar lead: Beatriz Rubio Alonso
Bea obtained her DVM in 2019 in Madrid, Spain. Her growing passion for wildlife conservation and research led her to complete an MSc in Wildlife Management and Conservation at the Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague, Czech Republic. She has worked on reintroduction programs and non-invasive health monitoring of antelopes, and studied the toxicology, ecology, and pathology of birds of prey. Currently, she is a Conservation Officer for a project focused on recovering bird species in non-secure conservation status at the Spanish Game and Wildlife Research Institute (IREC) in Ciudad Real, Spain. She has been an active member of the Sustainability Committee of the EWDA since 2019.
Member-at-large: Lineke Begeman
Lineke Begeman is a veterinary pathologist and PhD student at the Viroscience department of Erasmus University Medical Centre in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Throughout her veterinary education she has been active in studying wildlife diseases. She currently investigates zoonotic viral infections of bats and rodents in the original hosts. Being concerned about human impact on our planet and the consequences for wildlife disease, she is very happy to contribute within the sustainability committee to help to make our society become more sustainable.
Member-at-large: Anja Globig
Anja Globig is Group Leader at the Institute of International Animal Health/One Health at the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Germany. A veterinarian by training, she has worked at FLI since 2002, with a focus on avian influenza and wildlife disease surveillance. She has contributed to over 20 international projects on transboundary animal diseases (TADs) in Africa and Asia, in collaboration with WOAH, FAO, GIZ, IAEA, and the EU. Her expertise includes outbreak investigations, risk assessment, and international capacity building. Outside of work she is passionate about experiencing nature in all its diversity, and music.
Student Representative: Kim van de Wiel
Kim graduated as a veterinary surgeon in 2017 and developed a strong interest in wildlife and One Health during her early studies. She gained invaluable experience working with wildlife in Namibia and served as a student ambassador for Vets Without Borders on a collaborative project in Rwanda. After completing her veterinary degree and acquiring clinical experience in mixed practice, she is now pursuing a PhD in Disease Ecology at the University of Liverpool (UK) in collaboration with the International Livestock Research Institute in Kenya. Her research is focussed on gastrointestinal parasite transmission in African wild and domestic ungulates.
