How to make the green gains sustainable

Context: While the pandemic has provided temporary gains in environmental consciousness due to lockdown, there is a greater need to sustain this gain to avoid future crises.

Green Gains of Lockdown:

• Industries and automobiles forced to shut down: helped improve the quality of air, water and wildlife returning to their previous territories. 

• Exposed the fragility: of the model that chases GDP with manufacturing and exports without caring for the environment.

Government’s neglect of ecological imperatives:

• Ignoring ecological costs: by attracting companies wanting to relocate from China and replacing it as the factory of the world.

• Environmental laws thwarted: 

• Laws and regulations have been eased to promote foreign investors. 

• The environment ministry and its agencies cleared several projects in environmentally sensitive zones during the Lockdown.

• Avoiding Environment Impact Assessment: in the Central Vista redevelopment project by categorizing it as ‘renovation and expansion’ project.

• The gas leak in LG plant in Visakhapatnam: example of lax enforcement of environmental laws.

Way Forward:

• Innovative solutions: Encourage cycling as a mode of transport in cities, incentivising work from home or teleworking.

• Relook the development model: to avoid the future outbreak of pandemic which is essentially related to denuded forests and disturbing wildlife.