Environmental effects of covid-19
The global disruption caused by the COVID-19 has brought about several effects on the environment and climate. Due to movement restriction and a significant slowdown of social and economic activities, air quality has improved in many cities with a reduction in water pollution in different parts of the world. Besides, increased use of PPE (e.g., face mask, hand gloves etc.), their haphazard disposal, and generation of a huge amount of hospital waste has negative impacts on the environment.
One of its positive effect is;
Ecological restoration and assimilation of tourist spots
Over the past few years, tourism sector has witnessed a remarkable growth because of technological advancements and transport networks; which contribute significantly to global gross domestic product (GDP) (Lenzen et al., 2018). It is estimated that the tourism industry is responsible for 8% of global GHGs emission (Lenzen et al., 2018). However, the places of natural beauty (e.g., beaches, islands, national park, mountains, desert and mangroves) are usually attracting the tourists, and make a huge harsh. To facilitate and accommodate them, lots of hotels, motel, restaurant, bar and market are built, which consume lots of energy and other natural resources (Pereira et al., 2017). For instance, Puig et al. (2017) calculated the carbon footprint of coastland hotel services of Spain and reported electricity and fuels consumption take a key role, and 2-star hotels have the highest carbon emissions. Moreover, visitors dump various wastes which impair natural beauty and create ecological imbalance (Islam and Bhuiyan, 2018). Due to the outbreak of COVID-19 and local restrictions, the number of tourists have reduced in the tourist spots around the world (Zambrano-Monserrate et al., 2020). For instance, Phuket, Thailand's most popular tourist's destination goes into lockdown on April 9, 2020, due to the surge of Covid-19, where an average 5,452 visitors visit per day (Cripps, 2020). Similarly, local administration imposed a ban on public gathering and tourist arrivals at Cox's Bazar sea beach, known as the longest unbroken natural sand sea beach in the world. As a result of restriction, the color of sea water is changed, which usually remain turbid because of swimming, bathing, playing and riding motorized boats (Rahman, 2020). Nature gets a time to assimilate human annoyance, and due to pollution reduction recently returning of dolphins was reported in the coast of Bay of Bengal (Bangladesh) and canals, waterways, and ports of Venice (Italy) after a long decade (Rahman, 2020; Kundu, 2020).
Reduction of air pollution and GHGs emission
As industries, transportation and companies have closed down, it has brought a sudden drop of greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions. Compared with this time of last year, levels of air pollution in Ney York has reduced by nearly 50% because of measures taken to control the virus (Henriques, 2020). It was estimated that nearly 50% reduction of N2O and CO occurred due to the shutdown of heavy industries in China (Caine, 2020). Also, emission of NO₂ is one of the key indicators of global economic activities, which indicates a sign of reduction in many countries (e.g., US, Canada, China, India, Italy, Brazil etc.) due to the recent shut down (Biswal et al., 2020; Ghosh, 2020; Saadat et al., 2020; Somani et al., 2020). Usually, NO2 is emitted from the burning of fossil fuels, 80% of which comes from motor vehicle exhaust (USEPA, 2016). It is reported that NO2 causes acid rain with the interaction of O2 and H2O, and several respiratory diseases suffered by humans (USEPA, 2016). The European Environmental Agency (EEA) predicted that, because of the COVID-19 lockdown, NO2 emission dropped from 30-60% in many European cities including Barcelona, Madrid, Milan, Rome and Paris (EEA, 2020). In the US NO2 declined 25.5% during the COVID-19 period compared to previous years (Berman and Edisu, 2020). The level of NO2 demonstrated a reduction across Ontario (Canada) and found to be reduced from 4.5 ppb to 1 ppb (Adams, 2020). Up to 54.3% decrease of NO2 was observed in Sao Paulo of Brazil (Nakada and Urban, 2020). It was also stated that, the levels of NO2 and PM2.5 reduced by almost 70% in Delhi, the capital of India (Thiessen, 2020). Overall, 46% and 50% reduction of PM2.5 and PM10 respectively, was reported in India during the nationwide lockdown (IEP, 2020).
It is assumed that, vehicles and aviation are key contributors of emissions and contribute almost 72% and 11% of the transport sector's GHGs emission respectively (Henriques, 2020). The measures taken globally for the containment of the virus are also having a dramatic impact on the aviation sector. Many countries restricted international travelers from entry and departure. Due to the decreased passengers and restrictions, worldwide flights are being cancelled by commercial aircraft companies. For instance, China reduces almost 50–90% capacity of departing and 70% domestic flights due to the pandemic, compared to January 20, 2020, which ultimately deducted nearly 17% of national CO2 emissions (Zogopoulos, 2020). Furthermore, it is reported that 96% of air travel dropped from a similar time last year globally due to the COVID-19 pandemic (Wallace, 2020), which has ultimate effects on the environment.
Overall, much less consumption of fossil fuels lessens the GHGs emission, which helps to combat against global climate change. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), oil demand has dropped 435,000 barrels globally in the first three months of 2020, compared to the same period of last year (IEA, 2020). Besides, global coal consumption is also reduced because of less energy demand during the lockdown period (Figure 5). It is reported that, coal-based power generation reduced 26% in India with 19% reduction of total power generation after lockdown (CREA, 2020). Again, China, the highest coal consumer in the world, dropped 36% compared to same time of the preceding year (early February to mid-march) (CREA, 2020; Ghosh, 2020). According to UK based climate science and policy website Carbon Brief, recent crisis of COVID-19 reduces 25% CO2 emission in China, and nonetheless below the normal limit more than two months after the country entered lockdown (Evans, 2020). They also projected that, the pandemic could cut 1,600 metric tons of CO2, equivalent to above 4% of the global total in 2019 (Evans, 2020).
Negative effects of covid-19
Safety equipment use and haphazard disposal ;
To protect from the viral infection, presently peoples are using face mask, hand gloves and other safety equipment, which increase the amount of healthcare waste. It is reported that, in USA, trash amount has been increasing due to increased PPE use at the domestic level (Calma, 2020). Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the production and use of plastic based PPE is increased worldwide (Singh et al., 2020). For instance, China increased the daily production of medical masks to 14.8 million since from February 2020, which is much higher than before (Fadare and Okoffo, 2020). However, due to lack of knowledge about infectious waste management, most people dump these (e.g., face mask, hand gloves etc.) in open places and in some cases with household wastes (Rahman et al., 2020). Such haphazard dumping of these trashes creates clogging in water ways and worsens environmental pollution (Singh et al., 2020; Zambrano-Monserrate et al., 2020). It is reported that, face mask and other plastic based protective equipment are the potential source of microplastic fibers in the environment (Fadare and Okoffo, 2020). Usually, Polypropylene is used to make N-95 masks, and Tyvek for protective suits, gloves, and medical face shields, which can persist for a long time and release dioxin and toxic elements to the environment (Singh et al., 2020). Though, experts and responsible authorities suggest for the proper disposal and segregation of household organic waste and plastic based protective equipment (hazardous medical waste), but mixing up these wastes increases the risk of disease transmission, and exposure to the virus of waste workers (Ma et al., 2020; Somani et al., 2020; Singh et al., 2020).
Municipal solid waste generation, and reduction of recycling ;
Increase of municipal waste (both organic and inorganic) generation has direct and indirect effects on environment like air, water and soil pollution (Islam et al., 2016). Due to the pandemic, quarantine policies established in many countries have led to an increase in the demand of online shopping for home delivery, which ultimately increase the amount of household wastes from shipped package materials (Somani et al., 2020; Zambrano-Monserrate et al., 2020). However, waste recycling is an effective way to prevent pollution, save energy, and conserve natural resources (Ma et al., 2019). But, due to the pandemic many countries postponed the waste recycling activities to reduce the transmission of viral infection. For instance, USA restricted recycling programs in many cities (nearly 46%), as government worried about the risk of COVID-19 spreading in recycling facilities (Somani et al., 2020). United Kingdom, Italy, and other European countries also prohibited infected residents from sorting their waste (Zambrano-Monserrate et al., 2020). Overall, due to disruption of routine municipal waste management, waste recovery and recycling activities, increasing the landfilling and environmental pollutants worldwide.
Covid-19 also affected the Crypto currency world;
the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic affected the market for cryptocurrencies (“cryptomarket”). One year into the pandemic, this market seems to have boomed. For instance, when the pandemic erupted, Bitcoin – the world’s first cryptocurrency – could be purchased for about $7,300. Today, the very same token costs more than $46,800 – a staggering 640 percent rise. Other leading cryptocurrencies (e.g. Ether), showed similar (or even greater) increases. However, this upward trend is not necessarily obvious from a theoretical standpoint, as there are several forces that might drive demand up or down in response to a crisis.
One set of forces leads to potentially higher demand for cryptocurrencies during a pandemic. The fact that cryptocurrencies can be traded from anywhere in the world alleviates, to some extent, potential liquidity constraints that can arise if local governments restrict trading activities as part of a lockdown. As a result, cryptocurrencies become more attractive compared than alternatives. Furthermore, investors fearing that a crisis will lead central banks or political actors to interfere in the market may prefer to switch their investments into the decentralized cryptomarket. In other words, because cryptocurrencies are not managed by a central entity but rather operate automatically, they can enable investors to hedge some of the political risk and thus becomes more attractive.
Well explained and helpful