Land use and land cover changes influence the rate of accidents involving venomous animals

Direct human-nature interactions can have positive and negative impacts on people's health and well-being, and there is an increasing trend of some negative direct human-nature interactions in many parts of the world. Every year, hundreds of thousands of people suffer accidents with venomous animals around the world, including fatal accidents. However, the drivers of the increase in the number of accidents remain unclear. In this study, we evaluated whether land use and land cover changes affect the rate of accidents involving venomous animals in Brazil. We recorded the rate of accidents per capita (per 100,000 inhabitants) from 2007 to 2023, for all animals involved in the accidents (bee, caterpillar, scorpion, snake, and spider), for all Brazilian states (N = 27). From 2007 to 2023, we recorded the following data for each state: urban areas (ha), native vegetation suppression (ha), and burned areas (ha). We found a positive effect of urban areas on the rate of accidents with caterpillars, scorpions, and spiders. In addition, we found a significant negative effect of native vegetation suppression on the rate of accidents involving bees and of burned areas on the rate of accidents involving caterpillars. Based on our results, we conclude that the expansion of urban areas is highly correlated with the rise in the number of negative direct interactions between humans and some venomous animals. Measures to raise awareness among people and urban planning alternatives may help reduce these accidents.