We all have seen and witnessed the economic impact of covid-19 across the globe, on
international economic relations and individual finances We all noticed the short-term
environmental benefits that the pandemic caused lockdown offered such as 11%
reduction in Carbon Emission, but the reality is something else entirely, this is what we
shall be discussing in the article that, not only was the global economy hit badly, the
the environment is in for a fight too.
The most important economic curse that the global economy witnessed would’ve been the
loss of employment for nearly 200 million full-time workers across the globe from all
sorts of field, we saw that people from all walks of life were out of a job and lost their
livelihood, this endangered the life nearly 100 million people, who worked on daily
wages. Moreover, the industries that functioned on day to day means basis, that that
they spent nearly all that they earned in a day on livelihood were nearly destroyed, the
Indian Handicraft industry is an example of such an industry. Another section of people
who took a grave hit due to the pandemic were laborers working on the basis of daily wages,
with no work going on and no need for labor, a large number of families have been
pushed to the brink of starvation. This was the largest impact of covid-19 on the global
economy.
Now let’s talk about the largest environmental benefit. According to Environmentalists,
the important thing to note is that all the environmental effects are in the long term and
not the instant or immediate future, unlike the economic effects. Next up we see the
the greatest effect of Covid-19 on the Environment, this effect goes slightly hand in hand
with an economic boom, the scenario wherein the industries will reopen greater and bolder
post-pandemic, this is because we have seen that governments all over the world have
started granting sanctions and rights to all those corporations that promise fast recovery of
the economy and reduction in unemployment, that will be the greatest mower or destroyer
of the relaxation, the environment has received in these last 7-9 months. The implication
goes like this, a scene wherein the industries function without any leash, because they
have to not only cover their costs and earn profits for themselves but also for the national and global economy as they are a coherent part of it. This is uncontrolled freedom is what will give them the power and resources to cut down anything and everything in their path to achieving their goals.
This scenario can already be seen in the crude oil industry, wherein the giants are already gathering international investors for funds, to grow and expand their businesses post-pandemic/lockdown, with the government relaxing on certain segments of the law, that kept a shrewd check on their activities, and, there is nothing to stop the Corporate World from functioning as dictators in their respective industries and destroying anything that stands in their path, namely the environment. We can illustrate this theory by taking the United States’ example, the government has already granted the industry access to its $600 Billion reserves for Main Street Lending Program, thereby providing not only judicial but also economical aid. This
is a distinct example of the above-mentioned theory.
Onto the second greatest impact of Covid-19 on the two halves of the ecology. We
initially saw that the pandemic caused a fall in the global employment levels, henceforth
we’ll see the other side of that coin, the fall of the global economy since both of them go,
hand in hand. The global economy saw a gross fall of nearly 10%, which is equivalent to
$12.7 Trillion. The net loss is expected to be around $9 trillion, greater than the
economies of Germany and Japan combined, as such the global economy is seen to see a
the shrink of -8%, stating a gigantic loss of not only money but also employment, specific
handicraft industries and much more. Handicraft industries and artisans that survived on
daily wages have reached a near-extinct level unless they catered to a patron and their
patron helped them economically during the pandemic.
Onto the second Environmental After-effect of covid-19, this also goes hand in hand with
the first impact, we noticed that the industries are bound to bounce back harder and
stronger than before, due to relaxed federal pressure, and growing strengths of lobbyists,
to accumulate a wealth of investors for their clients will give them the economic reserves
they need to claw and mow their way through the pressure than the pandemic will have
imposed on them, this will increase emissions from industrial emissions, from activities
like: mineral extraction, increased processing of raw materials, resuming the automotive
industries(air travel, cabs, oil drilling), etc. All these activities will have long term health
impacts on not only human health but the entire ecology.
To conclude we can safely say that long-term environmental curses, combined with the
economic effects will make recovering from Covid-19 an extremely difficult task.
Developed countries and countries on the verge of becoming developed won’t have that
much difficulty in recovering as compared to the following developed and
underdeveloped countries, such as most of the African Continent. This will also lead to
overexploitation of the underdeveloped nations of Africa by the developed nations to
reduce the economic burden that is on their shoulders. Hence, the Covid-19 brings
nothing but darkness for the entire ecology.