Positive global environmental impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown: a review

Abstract

Global environmental change is mainly due to human behaviours and is a major threat to sustainability. Despite all the health and economic consequences, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown on environmental health warrants the scientific community's attention. Thus, this article examined and narratively reviewed the impact of several drastic measures taken on the macro environment and holistic planetary health. We note that the amount of pollution in the air, water, soil, and noise showed a significant decline during the pandemic. Global air quality improved due to lower anthropogenic emissions of air pollutants and atmospheric particles. Water ecosystems also demonstrated signs of recuperation in many countries. Less commercial fishing internationally resulted in the restoration of some aquatic life. Additionally, significant reduction of solid and water waste led to less soil pollution. Some places experienced cleaner beaches and ocean water while wildlife sightings in urban areas across the world occurred more often. Lastly, the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown also led to a worldwide decline in noise pollution. However, the beneficial environmental effects will not be permanent as

Evaluating the Impact of COVID-19 on Society, Environment, Economy, and Education

“…Due to less cash flow, this sector is almost closed. The protection of wildlife and endangered species is facing a big blockage amid this pandemic [54]. This also led to the decrease in the funding of the anti-poaching units.…”

Implications of COVID-19 pandemic on environmental compartments: Is plastic pollution a major issue?

“…Such water quality improvement could be related to a decrease in water acidification due to the decline in atmospheric NO 2 and CO 2, which often ends up in the water compartments, through acid rain or surface absorption ( Ong et al, 2021 , Lükewille and Alewell, 2008 ); or through the decrease in hazardous chemicals release, via industrial activities, tourism, and water-traffic ( Dutta et al, 2020 , Yunus et al, 2020 ). The reduction in water-traffic, fisheries, and tourism, also resulted in a decrease in water acoustic noise ( Thomson and Barclay, 2020 ), allowing aquatic species that rely on eco-localization (e.g., cetaceans) to reclaim habitats (as reviewed by Ong et al ( Ong et al, 2021 , Loh et al, 2021 )).…”

“…Several studies have been addressing the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the environment throughout the first year, although the majority is focused on specific environmental compartments (e.g., air, water, soil, or biota) (see table 1 and references therein) or with a particular perspective (e.g., plastic pollution, chemical pollution, marine environment, virus epidemiology and persistence) (e.g., ( Ong et al, 2021 , Loh et al, 2021 , Facciolà et al, 2021 )). Therefore, this paper provides an overview of the positive and negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic measures and related human activities on the different environmental compartments, along with an integrative discussion on the major drivers and effects in the long term, with particular emphasis on plastic pollution.…”

Analysis of the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Value of CO2 Emissions from Electricity Generation

“…However, they do not take into account the combustion of this raw material and the resulting harmful waste such as carbon dioxide. There are many papers in the literature in the field of ecology, but these mainly deal with the impact of the pandemic on water quality (for example the paper of E. Cherif et al in [21]), air (the paper of J. Berman et al in [22]) or soil (H. Loh et al in [23]). Only a few papers link ecological aspects to the energy sector and show their correlation with the COVID-19 pandemic period.…”