Air quality is picking up in quarantined countries

Here is another example of how the environment rebounds when human activities are curtailed:

According to Agence France-Presse, a striking reduction in concentration of NO2 has been reported in China, Italy and Spain thanks to lockdown. Air quality is improving in countries under COVID-19 quarantines, experts say, but it is far too early to speak of long-term change. Images by the U.S. space agency NASA are clear, in February the concentration of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) fell

dramatically in Wuhan, China, the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic, passing from an indicator that was red/orange to blue.

NO2 is mainly produced by vehicles, industrial sites and thermal power stations. As China moves past the peak of its crisis, however, recent images by the European Space Agency (ESA) show a resurgence in NO2 emissions.

A striking reduction has also been observed by the ESA in northern Italy, which has been locked down to fight a spread of the novel coronavirus. The European Environment Agency (EEA) reports a similar change in Barcelona

and Madrid, where Spanish authorities issued confinement orders in mid-March.

“NO2 is a short-lived pollutant, with a lifetime in the atmosphere of about one day,” said Vincent-Henri Peuch, from the EU earth surveillance

Programme Copernicus. “As a result, this pollutant stays near the emission

sources and can be used as a proxy of the intensity of activity in different sectors,” he told AFP. Fei Liu, an air quality researcher at NASA’s Goddard

Space Flight Center, noted the change in China, saying: “This is the first time I have seen such a dramatic drop-off over such a wide area for

a specific event.” In northern Italy, “average NO2 concentration levels have been almost halved on average,” Mr. Peuch remarked.

The pollutant can provoke a serious inflammation of the respiratory system.

Confinement measures thus protect in two ways, by reducing the risk of COVID-19 infection and by easing pollution from road traffic, according to a group of French doctors. It is nonetheless hard to know how much benefit the world’s population will actually experience because, according to the health experts, what will have more impact is the long term exposure.

Undisturbed mass nesting of Olive Ridleys at Rushikulya, Odisha

While the Corona virus is taking a heavy toll on humanity, we should remember that our disregard for the natural environment creates the conditions for such viruses to emerge. See for example:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/destroyed-habitat-creates-the-perfect-conditions-for-coronavirus-to-emerge/

The lockdown in India is harsh on the poor and others, but it also shows how the environment improves when human actions are curtailed. The following account is from a report in The Hindu dated March 26, 2020.

Restrictions in place for the COVID-19 threat are saving lakhs of Olive Ridley turtles from possible disturbance by humans, especially tourists, while they are continuing mass nesting at Odisha’s Rushikulya rookery. According to the Odisha Forest Department’s enumeration, over 2,78,500 turtles nested at this coast till 25th morning. Since 24th evening, over 72,000 Olive

Ridleys have arrived at the beach to dig nests and lay eggs.

Olive Ridleys began mass nesting at the Rushikulya rookery from around 2 a.m. on March 21. Later in the day, the unusual phenomenon of day-time mass nesting took place at the coast. As a large number of turtles are still in the sea near this coast, mass nesting is expected to continue for some more nights.

This event normally attracts hundreds of people to the spot, with Forest

Department personnel spending considerable time and effort in controlling the crowd. But this year, the COVID-19 lockdown has ensured no such

disturbance occurs for the turtles.

Proper maintenance of cleanliness and provision of protection to the turtles at sea since November 2019, when the turtles mate, are major reasons for the large scale mass nesting at Rushikulya this year, said Berhampur Divisional Forest Officer Amlan Nayak. Two trawlers, two speed boats and a country boat are being used by the Forest Department to patrol the sea, in order to prevent fishing trawlers from plying along the coast. Trawlers did not cause any deaths of turtles as a result.

In 2019, mass nesting of Olive Ridleys did not occur in Rushikulya, in contrast to 2018, when “double mass nesting” occurred in February and April, with nesting figures rising above 4,73,000.

Cyclone Titli in October 2018, and the floods that followed, left huge piles of

waste over about 8 km of the Rushikulya coast, which had to be cleaned with excavators. It has been estimated that minute particles of waste remained, keeping Olive Ridleys away in 2019. This year, the beach received a thorough cleaning long before the mass nesting commenced. The Forest Department also set up 11 off-shore camps early this year to monitor the beach.