Perceptions of change in the environment caused by the COVID-19 pandemic: Implications for environmental policy

N Hidalgo-Triana; A Picornell; S Reyes; G Circella; H Ribeiro; A E Bates; J Rojo; P B Pearman; J M Artes Vivancos; S Nautiyal; F Q Brearley; J Pereña; M Ferragud; A Monroy-Colín; J M Maya-Manzano; J M A Sènami Ouachinou; A E Salvo-Tierra; C Antunes; M Trigo-Pérez; T Navarro; P Jaramillo; J Oteros; A Charalampopoulos; O I Kalantzi; H Freitas; J Ščevková; M Zanolla; A Marrano; O Comino; J J Roldán; A F Alcántara; A Damialis

doi:10.1016/j.eiar.2022.107013

Perceptions of change in the environment caused by the COVID-19 pandemic: Implications for environmental policy

Environ Impact Assess Rev. 2023 Mar:99:107013. doi: 10.1016/j.eiar.2022.107013. Epub 2022 Dec 13.

Authors

N Hidalgo-Triana¹, A Picornell¹, S Reyes², G Circella^{3

4}, H Ribeiro⁵, A E Bates⁶, J Rojo⁷, P B Pearman^{8

9

10}, J M Artes Vivancos¹¹, S Nautiyal¹², F Q Brearley¹³, J Pereña¹, M Ferragud¹⁴, A Monroy-Colín¹⁵, J M Maya-Manzano^{14

16

15}, J M A Sènami Ouachinou¹⁷, A E Salvo-Tierra¹⁸, C Antunes¹⁹, M Trigo-Pérez¹, T Navarro¹, P Jaramillo²⁰, J Oteros²¹, A Charalampopoulos²², O I Kalantzi²³, H Freitas²⁴, J Ščevková²⁵, M Zanolla¹, A Marrano²⁶, O Comino²⁷, J J Roldán¹, A F Alcántara²⁸, A Damialis²²

Affiliations

¹ University of Málaga, Faculty of Sciences, Department of Botany and Plant Physiology (Botany Area), 29010 Málaga, Spain.
² University of Málaga, Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, Department of Geography (Geographic Analysis Research Group), 29071 Málaga, Spain.
³ Institute of Transportation Studies, University of California, Davis, USA.
⁴ Department of Geography, Ghent University. 9000 Ghent, Belgium.
⁵ Department of Geosciences, Environment and Spatial Plannings, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto and Earth Sciences Institute (ICT), Pole of the Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, Portugal.
⁶ Department of Biology, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada.
⁷ Department of Pharmacology, Pharmacognosy and Botany, Faculty of Pharmacy, Complutense University of Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain.
⁸ Department of Plant Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Leioa, Bizkaia 48940, Spain.
⁹ IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science, Plaza Euskadi 5, 48009 Bilbao, Spain.
¹⁰ BC3 Basque Centre for Climate Change, Scientific Campus, University of the Basque Country, 48940 Leioa, Bizkaia, Spain.
¹¹ Department of Chemistry, Kennedy College of Sciences, UMass Lowell, Lowell, MA 01854, USA.
¹² Centre for Ecological Economics and Natural Resources (CEENR), Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC), Nagarabhavi, Bengaluru 560 072, India.
¹³ Department of Natural Sciences, Manchester Metropolitan University, Chester Street, Manchester M1 5GD, UK.
¹⁴ University of Valencia, Faculty of Sciences, Spain.
¹⁵ University of Extremadura, Faculty of Sciences, Department of Vegetal Biology, Ecology and Earth Science (Botany Area), 06006 Badajoz, Spain.
¹⁶ Center of Allergy & Environment (ZAUM), Member of the German Center for Lung Research (DZL), Technical University and Helmholtz Center, Munich, Germany.
¹⁷ Laboratoire de Botanique et Ecologie Végétale, Faculté des Sciences et Techniques, Universite d'Abomey-Calavi, Benin.
¹⁸ Technical Director Chair Climate Change on UMA, University of Málaga, Faculty of Sciences, Department of Botany and Plant Physiology (Botany Area), 29010 Málaga, Spain.
¹⁹ Department of Medical and Health Sciences, School of Health and Human Development & Institute of Earth Sciences - ICT, University of Évora, Evora, Portugal.
²⁰ Charles Darwin Research Station, Charles Darwin Foundation, Santa Cruz, Galápagos, 200102, Ecuador.
²¹ Department of Botany, Ecology and Plant Physiology, Agrifood Campus of International Excellence CeiA3, Andalusian Inter-University Institute for Earth System IISTA, University of Cordoba, Cordoba, Spain.
²² Department of Ecology, School of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, GR-54124 Thessaloniki, Greece.
²³ Department of Environment, University of the Aegean, Mytilene 81100, Greece.
²⁴ University of Coimbra, Department of Life Sciences, Centre for Functional Ecology, 3000-456 Coimbra, Portugal.
²⁵ Comenius University, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Department of Botany, Révová 39, 811 02 Bratislava, Slovakia.
²⁶ Phoenix Bioinformatics, Fremont, CA, USA.
²⁷ Estudios de Flora y Vegetación SL (EFYVE), 29580 Cártama, Málaga, Spain.
²⁸ Centro de Cooperación del Mediterráneo de UICN, 29590 Campanillas, Málaga, Spain.

Abstract

COVID-19 lockdown measures have impacted the environment with both positive and negative effects. However, how human populations have perceived such changes in the natural environment and how they may have changed their daily habits have not been yet thoroughly evaluated. The objectives of this work were to investigate (1) the social perception of the environmental changes produced by the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown and the derived change in habits in relation to i) waste management, energy saving, and sustainable consumption, ii) mobility, iii) social inequalities, iv) generation of noise, v) utilization of natural spaces, and, vi) human population perception towards the future, and (2) the associations of these potential new habits with various socio-demographic variables. First, a SWOT analysis identified strengths (S), weaknesses (W), opportunities (O), and threats (T) generated by the pandemic lockdown measures. Second, a survey based on the aspects of the SWOT was administered among 2370 adults from 37 countries during the period from February to September 2021. We found that the short-term positive impacts on the natural environment were generally well recognized. In contrast, longer-term negative effects arise, but they were often not reported by the survey participants, such as greater production of plastic waste derived from health safety measures, and the increase in e-commerce use, which can displace small storefront businesses. We were able to capture a mismatch between perceptions and the reported data related to visits to natural areas, and generation of waste. We found that age and country of residence were major contributors in shaping the survey participants ´answers, which highlights the importance of government management strategies to address current and future environmental problems. Enhanced positive perceptions of the environment and ecosystems, combined with the understanding that livelihood sustainability, needs to be prioritized and would reinforce environmental protection policies to create greener cities. Moreover, new sustainable jobs in combination with more sustainable human habits represent an opportunity to reinforce environmental policy.

Keywords: Emerging environmental impacts; Natural environment; Pandemic; Perception; Social behaviours.