Title: Role of the COVID-19 imposed lockdown in climate change

Authors: Arsalan Rasheed

Addresses: Department of Zoology, Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan, Pakistan; Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Elementary and Secondary Education Department, Pakistan

Abstract: As the transmission of COVID-19 increases rapidly, the whole world adopted the lockdown activity with restriction of human mobility to prevent its spread. Everyone thinks of the COVID-19 negatively; however, it has some positive aspects too. Before COVID-19, the world was suffering by a high level of urban air pollution especially in the form of CO₂, SO₂, NO₂ and particulate matter. During the COVID-19 pandemic, lockdown and limited human engagement with nature accompanied by social distance have proven to be beneficial for nature. As a result, significant reduction in environmental pollution and improvement in the quality of air, cleaner rivers, less noise pollution, undisturbed and calm wildlife was observed. Knowledge gained from the studies suggests that a substantial relationship exists between the contingency measures and environmental health. It is concluded that the COVID-19-induced lockdown has a positive impact on the global warming, a major issue of the 21st century.

Keywords: positive impacts; COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; coronavirus; lockdown; environment; global warming.

DOI: 10.1504/IJGW.2023.130489

International Journal of Global Warming, 2023 Vol.30 No.1, pp.1 - 16

Received: 19 Jun 2021
Received in revised form: 29 Nov 2021
Accepted: 27 Feb 2022
Published online: 24 Apr 2023 *