A Reflection on Biodiversity in a Time of Covid-19 Pandemic: A Foundation of Environmental Sustainability

Abstract

The overexploitation of resources has led to drastic negative impacts on biodiversity such as an overall increasing amount of infertile soil and overgrazed land. Environmentalists have been noticing now more than ever that plants and trees around the world have seen their population numbers severely drop over the last century. Many species including enormous flocks of birds congregating in marshes, herds of Wildebeest, Zebra and Tomson's Gazelle, along with untamed Tigers, Elephants, Giraffes, and Rhinos, grazing the vast natural landscape of the African plains that make their natural homes are at major risk of becoming extinct. With many pressures on world ecosystems already impacting the environment, continuous growth and natural human development trajectory is one that we must find a way to reconcile with environmental sustainability. The best way to do so is by establishing sustainability through the preservation of biodiversity and the ecosystem services different aspects of biodiversity provide. Although sustainability and biodiversity are crucial to assuring a clean future for our planet, the COVID-19 Pandemic has had a negative effect on the needs for biodiversity research, protection, and policymaking. This chapter looks at two main examples of biodiversity loss (1) the Tragedy of the Commons and (2) Deforestation to provide potential policy solutions to combat impacts of the Tragedy of the Commons and Deforestation, especially while considering implications of the current COVID-19 pandemic on biodiversity supportive policies.

Citation

Wejnert-Depue, C. (2022), "A Reflection on Biodiversity in a Time of Covid-19 Pandemic: A Foundation of Environmental Sustainability", Aladuwaka, S., Wejnert, B. and Alagan, R. (Ed.) Systemic Inequality, Sustainability and COVID-19 (Research in Political Sociology, Vol. 29), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 177-184. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0895-993520220000029014