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S. Kalita and H. Talukdar
15.1 Introduction
Pandemics such as the Spanish flu, Black Death (Plague), Tuberculosis, Cholera
and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) have been a part of human
history since very early times. The term pandemic (derived from the Greek word
pan meaning all and demos meaning people) is a large-scale rapid outbreak of an
infectious disease that can spread over a wide geographic area causing increase
morbidity and mortality. Various studies have predicted that the increased global
integration, urbanisation, and exploitation and disruptions of the natural environment
are the cause behind the increased and intensified trend of pandemics in the past few
decades. Since the year 2000, a number of disease outbreaks such as Severe Acute
Respiratory syndrome (SARS) 2003, Influenza 2009, Ebola 2013, and Zika 2015
are witnessed. International and national communities has made substantial progress
in the preparedness and mitigation of pandemic impacts, but the emergence of the
most recent 2019 coronavirus attack has unveiled the existing significant gaps and
challenges in global pandemic preparedness. The on-going global pandemic Coronavirus disease 2019, better known as COVID-19, is an infectious disease caused
by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). It was first
identified in December 2019 in Wuhan, Hubei, China. The World Health Organization (WHO) announced COVID-19 as a global pandemic on 11 March 2020 as the
disease rapidly spread from China to South Korea, Japan, Italy, France, Spain and
the United States. According to WHO statistics, more than 16 million cases have
been reported across 216 countries and territories, resulting in more than 662,095
deaths up to 31st of July 2020. While scientists indulge themselves in vaccine preparation, the most effective way that we can look upon for its control is quarantine or in
softer sense social distancing as the virus primarily spreads between people during
close contact. As countries go under lockdown, to stop the virus proliferation, there
has been a positive realisation regarding the importance of personal hygiene maintenance, adoption of healthy lifestyles, better family interactions, vital role of doctors,
medical workers and scientific researchers, and the need for significant investments
in the field of research and facilities. The influence of on-going COVID-l9 lockdown
encompasses various sectors. The six main quarantine impacts which are interlinked
to one-another are Social, Political, Health, Economy, Research, and eDucation
(SPHERED) (Fig. 15.1).
However, in this chapter, we are concerned mainly with the impact of lockdown on
the environmental sector. Since the dawn of the industrial revolution in the eighteenth
century, the influence of anthropogens on the four divisions of the environmentatmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere has been dramatically significant. The environment has drastically witnessed from small and scattered impacts to
larger negative impacts. Consequently, the depleted quality of air, water and land, and
degraded biodiversity is also slowly and progressively affecting human life in a negative way. The mere fetish for consumption of exotic meat i.e. meat of wild animals‚
not only threatens the loss of biodiversity but also causes spread of fatal diseases
such as Ebola virus from animals to humans through bushmeat. Experts claim that
S. Kalita and H. Talukdar
15.1 Introduction
Pandemics such as the Spanish flu, Black Death (Plague), Tuberculosis, Cholera
and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) have been a part of human
history since very early times. The term pandemic (derived from the Greek word
pan meaning all and demos meaning people) is a large-scale rapid outbreak of an
infectious disease that can spread over a wide geographic area causing increase
morbidity and mortality. Various studies have predicted that the increased global
integration, urbanisation, and exploitation and disruptions of the natural environment
are the cause behind the increased and intensified trend of pandemics in the past few
decades. Since the year 2000, a number of disease outbreaks such as Severe Acute
Respiratory syndrome (SARS) 2003, Influenza 2009, Ebola 2013, and Zika 2015
are witnessed. International and national communities has made substantial progress
in the preparedness and mitigation of pandemic impacts, but the emergence of the
most recent 2019 coronavirus attack has unveiled the existing significant gaps and
challenges in global pandemic preparedness. The on-going global pandemic Coronavirus disease 2019, better known as COVID-19, is an infectious disease caused
by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). It was first
identified in December 2019 in Wuhan, Hubei, China. The World Health Organization (WHO) announced COVID-19 as a global pandemic on 11 March 2020 as the
disease rapidly spread from China to South Korea, Japan, Italy, France, Spain and
the United States. According to WHO statistics, more than 16 million cases have
been reported across 216 countries and territories, resulting in more than 662,095
deaths up to 31st of July 2020. While scientists indulge themselves in vaccine preparation, the most effective way that we can look upon for its control is quarantine or in
softer sense social distancing as the virus primarily spreads between people during
close contact. As countries go under lockdown, to stop the virus proliferation, there
has been a positive realisation regarding the importance of personal hygiene maintenance, adoption of healthy lifestyles, better family interactions, vital role of doctors,
medical workers and scientific researchers, and the need for significant investments
in the field of research and facilities. The influence of on-going COVID-l9 lockdown
encompasses various sectors. The six main quarantine impacts which are interlinked
to one-another are Social, Political, Health, Economy, Research, and eDucation
(SPHERED) (Fig. 15.1).
However, in this chapter, we are concerned mainly with the impact of lockdown on
the environmental sector. Since the dawn of the industrial revolution in the eighteenth
century, the influence of anthropogens on the four divisions of the environmentatmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere has been dramatically significant. The environment has drastically witnessed from small and scattered impacts to
larger negative impacts. Consequently, the depleted quality of air, water and land, and
degraded biodiversity is also slowly and progressively affecting human life in a negative way. The mere fetish for consumption of exotic meat i.e. meat of wild animals‚
not only threatens the loss of biodiversity but also causes spread of fatal diseases
such as Ebola virus from animals to humans through bushmeat. Experts claim that