Is nature reclaiming lost space !!
Here we have viral videos of elephants in haridwar, nilgai in noida, sambar in chandigarh, dolphins in mumbai and small indian civet venturing on the city roads of kerala. During last few days, we are seeing nature thriving in various parts of the country. We have similar incidents and viral videos being circulated in all countries.
Many friends have shared beautiful pictures & videos of birds, wild animals & marine life on social media platforms ranging from Mumbai to Venice. They say due to lock-down nature is reclaiming its lost space as humans have confined themselves indoor. That brings great positivity which this world certainly needs now given that we are going through the worst of times.
But is nature really reclaiming the space. Instead of going into the authenticity of the material which is viral let’s think from other perspective. We have literally news of wildlife thriving from every corner of the country. Are they exceptions here by any means?
In my opinion nowhere these are seen out of their natural landscape. They all are observed where they belong.
Small Indian Civet is naturally found in Kerala, both in cities & in rural regions. A large part of Union Territory of Chandigarh is under forest cover as per Forest Survey of India report. There are two wildlife sanctuaries in the union territory. Sambar is very well present in that city. Nilgai is the state animal of Delhi. Dolphin pods are natural at coast of mumbai.
Haridwar shares border with Rajaji National Park, the wild animals are regular guests there. You are hearing a lot of bird songs in Delhi. Which is good for health and mind. But let me tell you Delhi has the 2nd highest bird diversity among national capitals in the world. Imagine these birds were always there. These animals were always in some corners of these cities. There was so much clutter & noise that you never observed them. Or they never got a chance to cross that road so carelessly.
Now vehicles are less on the road. Now we are paying good attention to all the details. We are able to hear the bird songs with less clutter & they are also able to hear each other’s songs after long time.
There are some visible and direct effects of lock-down also. The air quality has been improved. When industrial clusters in the big cities, highways and city roads are devoid of any action the pollution is less. The AQI map which used to be in ‘Red Zone’, is now green.
Air Quality Index of major Indian cities now, on 25th March;
New Delhi — 63
Chennai — 48
Kolkata — 80
Bengluru — 50
Mumbai — 85
People are witnessing less pollution in our rivers. Less withdrawal of water has also improved water quality. Which is logical because if we maintain the ecological flow of water in rivers they will be less polluted. But all said and done these all are just temporary things. When the dust over the pandemic will settle, we will see business as usual. Isn’t it ? So what has nature reclaimed.
All it is having is few moment of peace.
Natural reclamation require more than just a temporary lockdown. During all these 150–200 years of industrial revolution we are putting extensive amount of carbon dioxide and burning huge amount of fossil fuels. So much damage has been caused that impacts of this one-month lockdown are peanuts. The burning of fossil fuel means we are adding carbon to environment which is not part of the current carbon cycle. It was in geological sink. Notice the deforestation rate globally. Look how far we have pushed the boundaries of nature.
Just in last one year we have seen enough of natural destruction. From forest fire in Amazon to Australia, which burnt millions of hectares of tropical forests. We have now claims that tropical forests may change from carbon sink to carbon source. Imagine the feedback system & balance of source-sink if it happens. You can read my recent blog on this topic here.
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has provided us enough material to declare that anthropogenic effects have caused the climate change. At global level CO2 concentration in environment has increased to 415 parts per million, which has happened first time in history of our species. We observed this peak in last May and in all probability the 416 PPM mark will be crossed in this May month (the month which see annual peak). The climate change led glacier melts are real. Recently in Iceland they have commemorated death of a glacier. It reads “ We know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it”. Superb lines.
We are already facing the 6th mass extinction of species and we have enough evidence to suggest that it is because of human actions. The extinction of species is a natural phenomenon but we have increased it by a thousand times.
According to Food and Agriculture Organisation Climate related disasters now account for more than 80% of all major internationally reported disasters. Whereas according to World Meteorological organisation heatwaves & floods which used to be ‘once in a century’ events are regular occurrences now. This is the current situation we are living in. This is the global scale we need to keep in mind when we talk about healing of planet.
According to researchers In last 4 decades all major viruses are result of Human encroachment in wild areas. Just observe how in last few years we saw so many virus outbreaks.
2002 SARS
2005 Bird Flu
2009 Swine Flu
2012 MERS
2014 Ebola
2019 SARS-nCov (earlier called as Novel Coronavirus)
We are venturing in news areas, population is going up. Researchers say frequency of virus crossover from wild to human has increased now.
People have already linked deforestation in Africa with Ebola outbreak. We have evidence that current pandemic is related with wildlife trade. When we break the ecosystem, say an intact tropical forest, by removing something we remove the protective link also.
We must share and feel happy when wildlife & environment thrives. But we must understand that environment is a very wide concept, which has so many components such as wetlands, marine life, wildlife, pollution, forest, local communities and so on.
Now just think how much this lock-down will impact them. How much will it help a tribal community which is living deep in a forest & protecting the forest from generations. Deforestation is at peak across the globe while at local scale wetlands are being encroached on daily basis. You imagine about your own city when it comes to encroachment of lakes & natural spaces. Grasslands are being destroyed increasingly. With all this many of our fellow species are losing their prime habitat, including bats which is host of Covid19. Researchers say the intermediate species for this Covid19 was pangolin, which they are still studying. Not a coincidence. Pangolin is the most trafficked mammal on this earth.
What lessons we will learn. Will we help the nature in true reclamation after this? We must appreciate the beauty around us now, the songs, clean air, pure water & clear sky. People of Jalandhar must appreciate what they were missing earlier when now they can see the snow clad hills from their rooftop due to less pollution. We must flatten the curve of climate change dangers.
For this what we need is long term policies & implementation of these policies on ground level. We must stop deforestation & reduce the emissions. Renewable must be explored more. We should make efforts to protect habitats of these wild animals. Every one of us should make environment friendly choices as much as we can. Everyday.
