THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC : LESSON LEARNED ABOUT ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY

The occurrence of Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in an unprecedented global crisis whereby people’s health, economy, businesses, employment, industries, day to day life, health care services, tourism, sporting events, and educational institutions are among those that have been drastically impacted. Nevertheless, the coronavirus outbreak, in some ways, has been good for the environment: it has a positive indirect impact on the environment.

There are substantial qualitative and quantitative evidences of environmental recovery, notably improvement of water and air quality, during the outbreak. There are reports in the social media on visual evidences (including satellite images) of dramatic improvement of water and air quality as represented by clearer surface water and cleaner air compared with pre Covid-19 condition. Scientific reports are also available, whereby in the case of Malaysia, the air pollutant index (API) and water quality index (WQI) have shown improvement.

Human activities contribute towards environmental pollution, including degradation of water and air quality. The degree of pollution (ie pollution curve) is generally in an upward trend and would continue in this trajectory if the discharge or emission of pollutants by the activities continued unabated. The standard approaches to this problem are the adoption of appropriate pollution control measures and technologies, and the enforcement of environmental regulations. In theory this will led to the reduction in the volume (amount) of pollutants discharged or emitted into the environment by the respective sources. Unfortunately, due to various issues this does not always work in practice. Alternatively, freezing the activities will effectively stop or significantly reduce the release of pollutants. However, this draconian approach seemed unthinkable until the occurrence of Covid-19 pandemic.

The Covid-19 crisis caused cessation of human activities, albeit temporarily. The enforced lockdown (ie stay at home) and social distancing, among others, led to closure of industries, stoppage of construction and commercial activities, and travel restrictions. This has brought a sudden drop in volume of wastewater (effluents) and thereby a much lesser amount of pollutants discharged into the aquatic environment. Also, less burning of fossil fuels by industries caused a sharp drop in the amount of air pollutants emitted into the atmosphere.
Meanwhile, due to reduced transport activities there was a marked decline in the emission of air pollutants from motor vehicles. Overall, the Covid-19 lockdown has indirectly led to substantial reduction of pollutants discharged or emitted into the environment. This
contributes towards the observed improvement in water and air quality. Thus, the pandemic shows a glimpse of hope that our environment (locally or globally) can be rejuvenated if the release of pollutants are largely restricted. The big question mark is whether our environment will see long-term benefits of the pandemic or it is only a temporary reprieve.

Under normal condition, cessation of human activities is not plausible. It is, however, proven possible during an unprecedented crisis (such as Covid-19 pandemic). In Malaysia, the enforced lockdown is known as Movement Control Order (MCO) which is based on Prevention and Control of Infectious Disease Act 1988 and Police Act 1967. Other countries have their respective legislation on this matter. The primary aim of the lockdown is to curtail Covid-19 outbreak, and it has been largely successful (including in Malaysia) due to strict enforcement, and the cooperation and support of various stakeholders, including the industries and community.

The easing of lockdown inevitably lead to increase in human activities. If “business as usual” continued to be practiced during post Covid-19 then certainly the discharge or emission of pollutants will likely bounce back to pre Covid-19 levels and may continue to increase further. In this case, the Covid-19 pandemic will not have a long-term positive impact on environmental quality.

The Covid-19 pandemic pushed us to think outside the box. We need to adopt and/or adapt to new ways of going about our lives and how we do things. Moving forward, it should be “business unusual” and no more “business as usual”. We need to embrace the post Covid-19 new normal. This “business unusual” or new normal paradigm should be also extended to preservation and restoration of environmental quality. The pandemic should serve as a wake-up call and we should learn from it how to reduce environmental pollution on long-term basis.

From environment perspective, two distinct lessons can be learned from the Covid-19 pandemic. The first one is that recovery of environmental quality is possible when the release of pollutants to the aquatic and atmospheric environment is substantially reduced. The second lesson is that strict enforcement of regulation (legislation) bears fruit. During post Covid-19, it is not practical to stop human activities but it is possible to reduce the discharge or emission of pollutants into the environment. This (ie reducing pollutants discharge) should be among the environmental priorities under the new normal.

This subject is not new. But it need to be given serious attention, and expanded to cover a wider range of activities or pollutant sources. The “end-of-pipe” (ie produce first then clean up) approach is the conventional way of reducing the release of pollutants. Various “end of pipe” technologies are available but the main constraint for many industries is the high cost of some of the technologies. Lately, cleaner production technology with the primary aim towards minimizing the amount of waste or pollutants generated, are getting attention. The adoption of this greener technology need to be further encouraged and intensified. Various environmental policies and regulations pertaining to wastewater discharge and atmospheric emission are also available but these too need to be expanded to cover a wider range of activities. Some may need appropriate revision to suit the prevailing requirement as well as to plug loopholes. More crucial, environmental policies and regulations need to be effectively implemented and strictly enforced.

Under the new normal era, the carrot and stick approach need to be enhanced in order to be effective in motivating the various stakeholders to adopt “end-of-pipe” pollution control technologies and clean production technologies, as well as to comply with environmental regulations. The goal is to substantially reduce the pollutant load in the environment. There is a need to flatten the pollution curve, locally and globally. This important goal is a collective responsibility of many stakeholders including the government, industries and communities. It also requires global solidarity and coordination. The Covid-19 pandemic has shown that it is possible to regain a cleaner environment, and this should motivate us to strive towards sustaining environmental quality beyond Covid-19.

RINOREA