Two years after the worst effects on humans from the covid19 pandemic, Anjani Ganase reports on how it affected the natural world. The lessons still to be learned involve reducing human activities to allow nature to thrive.
During the 2020 covid19 lockdowns, there were numerous reports about the return of wildlife to urban spaces. These were the positive feel-good side notes while we were restricted in lockdown. Much of what was observed reveals the much-needed respite for the natural world from humans. Two years on, scientists have finished crunching the data on the significance of changes observed in natural ecosystems during lockdowns. Here in TT, the beaches were closed for over a year.
Our carbon footprint
Apart from the obvious declines in traffic and congregating, the declines in outdoor activities equated to significant drops in carbon dioxide emissions at a global scale. What were the effects on the global target to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 or 2 C by end of century? Scientists found that the four months of complete lockdown by most nations worldwide resulted in an eight per cent drop in carbon emissions. Such a drop in emissions was never seen in any previous economic downturn including World War II.
To put this in perspective, climate modellers had suggested that if we peak our carbon emissions in 2019, we’d have to reduce our carbon emissions by 15 per cent year on year until 2040 to stay within 1.5 C rise by the end of century. Considering the drastic and sudden shifts in the global activities that resulted in eight per cent drop, the chance of achieving 15 per cent seems slim; an estimated five per cent chance. To limit to a 2 C temperature rise by the end of century, if we peaked in 2019, it would still require an annual reduction of four to five per cent. Covid19 gave us a real-life visualisation of what rapid declines in carbon emissions could look like. Hopefully, the pandemic opened our eyes to the need for urgent transitioning away from fossil fuels to avoid global economic fallout.
The maritime sector
As the world stalled, so did the maritime sector. Globally, there are about 90,000 commercial vessels traversing our oceans on any given day. During the lockdown, marine traffic plummeted, with an average decline of 70 per cent across all major economic exclusion zones (Europe, US, China etc) that imposed lockdowns. The decline in vessel use was highest in recreational craft, which dropped by about 97 per cent across regions. This decline peaked in April 2020. There were a few exceptions: traffic increased around the horn of Africa. Commercial vessels chose the long way round to avoid the Suez Canal and their hefty tolls. The most impacted vessels were the passenger vessels (cruise liners) for the tourism industry. This significantly impacted tourism dependent countries such as in the Caribbean.
[caption id="attachment_995382" align="alignnone" width="1024"] An aerial view of a cargo ship. Photo courtesy Cameron Venti/Oce
