Did Covid-19 lockdown positively affect the urban environment and UN-Sustainable Development Goals?
Published in PLOS ONE, 2022
Recommended citation: Nigam, R., Tripathi, G., Priya, T., Luis, A. J., Vaz, E., Kumar, S., Shakya, A., Damásio, B., & Kotha, M. (2022). Did Covid-19 lockdown positively affect the urban environment and UN-Sustainable Development Goals? PLOS ONE, 17(9), e0274621. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0274621
Abstract: This work quantifies the impact of pre-, during- and post-lockdown periods of 2020 and 2019 imposed due to COVID-19, with regards to a set of satellite-based environmental parameters (greenness using Normalized Difference Vegetation and water indices, land surface temperature, night-time light, and energy consumption) in five alpha cities (Kuala Lumpur, Mexico, greater Mumbai, Sao Paulo, Toronto). We have inferenced our results with an extensive questionnaire-based survey of expert opinions about the environment-related UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Results showed considerable variation due to the lockdown on environment-related SDGs. The growth in the urban environmental variables during lockdown phase 2020 relative to a similar period in 2019 varied from 13.92% for Toronto to 13.76% for greater Mumbai to 21.55% for Kuala Lumpur; it dropped to −10.56% for Mexico and −1.23% for Sao Paulo city. The total lockdown was more effective in revitalizing the urban environment than partial lockdown. Cumulatively, COVID-19 lockdown has contributed significantly towards actions to reduce degradation of natural habitat (SDG-15), increment in available water content (SDG-6), and reduction in per capita energy consumption (SDG-13).