HOW COVID-19 CAN REDEFINE OUR QUEST FOR A BETTER USE OF NATURAL RESOURCES?
By Vriti Taneja, Kalindi College
“We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.” - Native American Proverb
The planet Earth has been in existence since the past 4.5 billion years, while humans have been around only for about 3 lakh years. Mother Nature has, since this eternity, been generous and unquestioning in her bounty, bestowing her children with gifts of precious air, pristine waters, lush forests and what not! But humans have done little to return the favor. In fact, such have our ravages been that they have wiped away plenty of her species extinct, and necessitated the need for a movement called ‘Environmental Consciousness’.
As of today, in the words of UNDP (United Nations Development Program), the COVID-19 pandemic has emerged as a global health crisis and the greatest challenge since World War-II. Post its emergence in Wuhan, China in 2019, it has spread to every continent except Antarctica. Its spread has left businesses counting their costs along with crumbling economies. Every country is trying its best to prepare, respond and recover. Despite the development of vaccines, recovery looks uncertain. The economic crisis is evident in the form of global recession, large shifts in stock markets, falling of various sectors such as tourism and undue pressure on the healthcare sector, among the many problems that have been created.
Since there has been a global compromise of natural resources for the sake of development, the pressure on these limited resources has been aggravating with increasing demand. The quality of resources is tremendously menacing and sinister while their regeneration is hardly guaranteed, owing to continuation of environmentally- degrading practices. It is important to realize that preservation of the environment is essential to economic growth and economic growth that disregards the same is not sustainable in the long run. If natural resources like clean water, air and land which are a requisite to development, are compromised or destroyed, it becomes even more difficult to provide for and sustain economic growth while also reducing the quality and quantity of resources accompanied by other negative externalities like health hazards, etc. Globally, approximately 200,840,180 confirmed cases of Covid-19 have been reported and 4,265,903 people have died as of 13th August, 2021.
Economic losses, too, have been mounting due to repercussions of both, the spread of the disease and efforts to quarantine it. Global stock markets witnessed their worst crash since 1987, and in the first three months of 2020 the G20 economies fell by 3.4%. In 2020 alone, the International Labor Organization estimated that the income earned by workers globally fell 10 percent in the first nine months of the year and an equivalent of 400 million full-time jobs were lost all around the world.
However, despite the devastating and uncertain atmosphere COVID-19 renders for both life and economies, to see nature healing and reclaiming its space as humans are forced into isolation attaches a somewhat positive connotation to the situation, suggesting that there awaits an opportunity to ameliorate our actions. From reports of ozone layer healing with a full recovery potential, to clear skies on account of reduced pollution that rendered Delhi, one of the world’s most polluted cities with AQIs as low as 50; from Himalayas visible from far off cities like Jalandhar and Kathmandu, to Venice, the city of canals, getting its clear water and swans back and countless other such buoyant instances such as the cleaner, azure streams of the Ganges due to reduction in industrial activities, the lockdown period has managed to reach a progress level that decades of government action plants and capital investments couldn’t even get close to.
Due to the lockdowns and economic slowdown, there has been a drastic fall in the consumption of fossil fuels. Brent crude prices, which are the international benchmark for petroleum prices across the world, fell to $9.12 per barrel on April 21 2020, the lowest since December 10, 1998.Reduction of pressure on tourist destination has also helped to pave way for environmental restoration in various areas.
Image source: Google Images
A scientific paper published in “Nature” pronounces this as a rare success in the reversal of environmental damage. If this is maintained as well as refined with greener strategies as well as investment in cleaner and renewable energy, it can promise a sustainable future that facilitates fulfillment of economic needs with environmental stability. The study, thereby, indicates a prospect of overturning events, i.e., modelling a harmonious future if we, as humans, learn to watch and mend our ways.
The anomalous progress already achieved should be thus pushed further by adoption of non-ignorant policies like consideration of interests of tribals and local communities while making major policy decisions. A recent example of the same is Buxwaha’s Bunder diamond mining project which was to be undertaken in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.
Over 2,00,000 trees spread over 364 hectares were estimated to be cut, causing irreversible damage to biodiversity, tribal lifestyle and water resources of the area. Protests, both offline and online on social media platforms like twitter by enlightened citizens and organisations have led the authorities to step in action and put a hold on continuation of the project as of now.
It is crucial that policies aim towards green growth instead of the usual ultra- capitalistic privatization that comes at the cost of hurting the planet. This is where the concept of a Circular Economy also steps in which works on the following three principles:
Extraction of maximum value from resources.
Conversion of all waste into resources.
Consumption and production in a regenerative manner.
According to the World Economic Forum, the greatest beneficiaries of natural capital investment would be rural economies, securing the future supply of sustainable food and commodities. Some ways of putting these ideas to action can be Promotion of businesses that work majorly from home as this can contribute in reducing the carbon footprint and global carbon emission levels.
Adoption of minimal behavioral changes at an individual level such as taking public transport, bicycles, switching off electrical appliances when not in use, shifting to greener alternatives for everyday items like wearing a reusable cloth mask instead of a plastic one, composting and segregation of waste etc. should be encouraged.
Apart from confining to increasing forest covers, we also need to explore horizons of renewable energy, majorly solar energy.Rooting on value systems signifying utter dependence on Nature and adopting indigenous ways of knowing, doing and being along with policy changes like, sustainable industrialism, better sewage systems, imposition of a low emission policy, etc. backed by effective governance can come a long way.
It is important to realize that continued exploitation of nature shall lead to more pandemics and climate emergencies such as the very recent melting of permafrost in Russia, severe flooding in Assam, storms in the Bay of Bengal and Western Australia, amongst others. These have a direct impact on our economic activities in the form of slowdowns in economic activity, loss of life and resources, dropping operating profits due to disruption as well as the expenses incurred in rehabilitation and resetting.
Another important aspect that has been highlighted by the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic is the contemporary food habits and trading of wild animals for food in wet markets in countries like China. This points towards an undesirably increased interaction between wildlife and humans. According to the most popular theory regarding the emergence of coronavirus, it is said to have been transmitted from bats to pangolins and therefore to humans. The present global crisis brings to light the largely unprecedented effect of such activities and the threat of future pandemics if no corrective action along with restoration is performed. Reliance on animals and animal products for food should be minimized and lifestyles like veganism, vegetarianism be promoted. This, additionally, shall also benefit the planet by reducing the enormous energy consumed in the cycle of production to consumption of meat products as well as a fall in the generation of harmful gases like methane in the process.
Image Source: Google Images
While the past dictates our present, if collective cooperation is practiced by coordinating resources and working for the betterment of the planet, we can still shape our future. Hopefully, a norm of international cooperation, collaboration and partnership should emerge post pandemic where there are no barriers to information. We should not be renowned as that perfidious species that breeds to destroy and play havoc with other fellow species and resources to relish its own selfish needs.
The role of nature in ever evolving businesses and economic activities should not be overlooked in order to minimise risks to growth, environmental and human welfare. Principles of nature itself should be put into practise by governments and citizens worldwide to work for a better tomorrow. These are as under:
Working in an ecosystem and not against it
Collective and interrelated efforts generate better action
It is very important to realise that as individual customers and citizens, we hold the buying power to influence companies and governments to cater to our sustainable, environmentally friendly needs. Conclusively, we shouldn’t go back to ‘normal’ post the COVID-19 pandemic because ‘normal’ was the problem.
Author's Contact: vrititaneja10@gmail.com
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