COVID-19: a temporary silver lining for the environment

Less than four months ago, Greta Thunberg frequently graced the pages of newspapers and featured prominently on social media feeds around the world. Riding a wave of climate change protests throughout the end of 2019 and start of the new year, she called for urgent action to address threats to the environment. The world inadvertently answered her prayers.

Precautionary measures to limit the spread of COVID-19 have resulted in lockdown procedures in many countries. As people are forced to stay at home as much as possible, road traffic has drastically decreased, industrial production has stalled and airplane travel has been severely restricted.  Overall, this has had a rapid and profound impact on global air pollution rates. As one of the first countries to initiate lockdown, for example, China has witnessed a 25 percent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions and a 50 percent decline in emissions of nitrogen oxides in February 2020. This has been mirrored in other countries around the globe with the United Kingdom reporting that some cities have witnessed a 60 percent reduction in NO2 levels compared to the same period last year.  

Thunberg and her fellow climate change activists are undoubtedly rejoicing at the startling and tangible impact these changes have wrought on the planet. From the crystal clear waters of Venice canals and views of the Himalayas undisrupted by smog to NASA satellite images showing a decline in air pollution in the United States, the pandemic has offered our environment a much-needed respite. Wildlife have been spotted roaming deserted tourist attractions and empty public transportation stations and, as port and water activities have declined, marine life are venturing closer to shorelines. Improvements in air quality also pose several health benefits as greenhouse gases have been associated with respiratory issues such as asthma.

However, environmental recovery has come at a significant human expense with over 5.7 million individuals contracting the COVID-19 disease and over 350,000 deaths worldwide to date. Moreover, in spite of the progress towards a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution, researchers have noted that these improvements will be short-lived once the crisis is resolved and economic activity resumes as usual. With governments around the world committing to elaborate and extravagant bail-out programmes to aid industrial recovery, the coronavirus pandemic is more likely to offer the climate a ‘year off’ rather than the ‘sustained drop in greenhouse gas emissions’ it desperately needs. Efforts to achieve the environmental reforms necessary in order to do so have also been hindered by consequences of the pandemic. For example, the 2020 United Nations Climate Change Conference, which was intended to offer a valuable contribution to climate diplomacy and reinforce countries’ commitment to and efforts towards achieving the Paris Agreement, has had to be postponed due to social distancing guidelines and the prohibition of mass gatherings.

There are also unfortunately other sectors which, rather than following trend of the environmental improvement mentioned above, have suffered under the pandemic. Fears of contagion have resulted in an overall increase in the proliferation of single-use plastics by restaurants and stores, undermining efforts towards eradicating this practice. The rise in the use of disposable masks and gloves have also exacerbated the issue of littering, posing a threat to habitats. Furthermore, conservationists fear that the pandemic will lead to an increase in poaching and hunting of wild animals. With a decline in tourism, which provides crucial funding to wildlife reserves, visitors, safari guides and park rangers have been unable to protect habitats. This has opened a window of opportunity for poachers to encroach further into wildlife centres; in Colombia, for example, non-profit conservation group Panthera has reported an increase in hunting of wild cats such as jaguars, ocelots and pumas. The economic hardships wrought by the pandemic are also expected to aggravate this crisis, forcing people to resort to collecting not only ivory and rhino horns but also bush meat in order to survive. Similarly, the pandemic has provided the perfect cover for environmentally unsustainable practices. Satellite data from the Brazilian Space Agency, for example, has reported a 50 percent increase in deforestation in the Amazon rainforest in the first three months of 2020.

Evidently, the decline of economic activity in the last several months has worked wonders for the environment, bringing about the changes urged by climate activists. However, behavioural practices and consumption patterns have not transformed drastically to sustain this once the crisis is resolved. Moreover, while the world has been focusing on the pandemic, climate activism has unfortunately been placed on the back burner. Much work remains to achieve the ambitious climate change objectives necessary to protect the planet.