Chapter 15
COVID-19 Pandemic: An Unprecedented
Blessing for Nature
Suravi Kalita and Hrishikesh Talukdar
Abstract Nature has the remarkable ability to replenish and self-purify overtime;
however, imprudent human activities have slowed down the ecological reconditioning functions. Degradation of air, water and soil, destruction of natural habitat,
and compounded loss of floral and faunal diversity has been a major cause of worry
among environmentalist. Measures adopted to address these issues have not yielded
result on expected lines. But the year 2020 turned out to be a blessing in disguise for
the environment. The COVID-19 quarantine lockdown has restricted people to home
and brought human activities to a halt; thus, giving an edge to the natural resources
to replenish themselves or the freedom of movement to animals in human-dominated
lands. Scientists from diverse fields are trying to explore and validate the lockdown
impact on ecology through proper scientific methods and data interpretation. This
chapter mainly reviews the various studies carried out globally to assess the effects of
the lockdown on the ecology and natural resources. An attempt has been made for a
detailed and retrospective discussion on the effects of lockdown on the environment
and the measures to be adopted for sustenance of ameliorated state of ecology along
with economy revival. Most of the research articles affirmed the positive impact of
the quarantine lockdown on ecology. The Earth’s ability to recover its health in such
a small period leaves us with a question of why humans, the so-called a superior
intelligent organism, cannot effectively manage the only habitat in the universe?
Keywords COVID-19 quarantine · Monitoring of ecology · Improved air quality ·
Cleaner water bodies · Biodiversity
S. Kalita (B)
Royal School of Environmental and Earth Sciences, The Assam Royal Global University,
Guwahati 781035, India
e-mail: sksurvi@gmail.com
H. Talukdar
Department of Physics, Assam Engineering College, Guwahati 781013, India
e-mail: hrishikeshtalukdar575@gmail.com
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
C. Chakraborty et al. (eds.), The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Green Societies,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-66490-9_15
349
COVID-19 Pandemic: An Unprecedented
Blessing for Nature
Suravi Kalita and Hrishikesh Talukdar
Abstract Nature has the remarkable ability to replenish and self-purify overtime;
however, imprudent human activities have slowed down the ecological reconditioning functions. Degradation of air, water and soil, destruction of natural habitat,
and compounded loss of floral and faunal diversity has been a major cause of worry
among environmentalist. Measures adopted to address these issues have not yielded
result on expected lines. But the year 2020 turned out to be a blessing in disguise for
the environment. The COVID-19 quarantine lockdown has restricted people to home
and brought human activities to a halt; thus, giving an edge to the natural resources
to replenish themselves or the freedom of movement to animals in human-dominated
lands. Scientists from diverse fields are trying to explore and validate the lockdown
impact on ecology through proper scientific methods and data interpretation. This
chapter mainly reviews the various studies carried out globally to assess the effects of
the lockdown on the ecology and natural resources. An attempt has been made for a
detailed and retrospective discussion on the effects of lockdown on the environment
and the measures to be adopted for sustenance of ameliorated state of ecology along
with economy revival. Most of the research articles affirmed the positive impact of
the quarantine lockdown on ecology. The Earth’s ability to recover its health in such
a small period leaves us with a question of why humans, the so-called a superior
intelligent organism, cannot effectively manage the only habitat in the universe?
Keywords COVID-19 quarantine · Monitoring of ecology · Improved air quality ·
Cleaner water bodies · Biodiversity
S. Kalita (B)
Royal School of Environmental and Earth Sciences, The Assam Royal Global University,
Guwahati 781035, India
e-mail: sksurvi@gmail.com
H. Talukdar
Department of Physics, Assam Engineering College, Guwahati 781013, India
e-mail: hrishikeshtalukdar575@gmail.com
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
C. Chakraborty et al. (eds.), The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Green Societies,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-66490-9_15
349