Saving the world from pollution and pandemics

Green infrastructure is no doubt sustainable. But sustainability also requires ownership of society.

Diwali is one of our most cherished festivities. The Diwali season is now marked by choking air pollution and distress. We hear of quite a few preventive and control actions. But the problem persists. Pandemics are another threat. Covid-19 has been devastating globally. Prophylactic actions have happened. But the threat looms large. If not Covid-19, there could be something else waiting in the wings! Our actions have subdued the ecosystem. It can no longer provide protective cover to us. Non-green priorities have shrunk the green space globally. Green capital hardly gets its due. Commitments to the climate crisis and related conventions of biodiversity remain largely pious resolutions.

“Green infrastructure” offers some solutions. (ANI PHOTO.)

Such disturbing ecological situations are disastrous, to say the least. Quite a few of us are familiar with gains from forests and ecosystem services. Tonnes of peer-reviewed publications, grey literature and action plans exist. But the situation leaves a lot to be desired.

The prevailing scenario is typical of the ongoing Anthropocene era. We are working to our disadvantage. Our actions impact the planet. But no one is stopping us from envisioning and resorting to green actions for sustainable safeguards.

India has been proactive on the climate front. Climate-smart practices are getting mainstreamed cross-sectorally. Smart cities are in focus. The recent G20 meet led by India focused on conserving, protecting, sustainably using and restoring ecosystems. It is worth pondering over and rethinking about a simple, cost-effective and sustainable way of protecting ourselves from pollution and pandemics.

“Green infrastructure” offers some solutions. Green infrastructure may be understood to include all natural systems in a landscape viz. forests, woodlands, wetlands, parks, rivers, agriculture and cash crops. There are empirical findings to highlight that a strategically linked network of such wilderness is immensely useful for arresting ecological distortions. This also fosters the quality of life and health of citizens.

The gains of green infrastructure are many: Investment and employment, conservation, land and soil management, disaster prevention, climate crisis mitigation and adaptation, low carbon transport and energy, multi-functional resilient agriculture and forestry, water management, tourism and recreation, and health and well-being. This deserves more appreciation from policymakers and citizens. For saving ourselves from air pollution and pandemics, smart green infrastructure is invaluable. It improves air quality by arresting pollution. Green spaces provide a “dilution effect” to stem the pandemic’s spread.

Many factors contribute to air pollution. These include industrial and vehicular emissions, dust, and open burning of agricultural waste. Broadly, smoke predominates. There are light-absorbing particles, black carbon dust and water-insoluble organic carbon as well. Trees, plants and green cover play a significant role in mitigating air pollution. Being first recipients, they act as scavengers, absorbing quite a few pollutants. Several findings and advisories are in place to foster green spaces.

Wild animals (vertebrates) are natural reservoirs of several disease agents (viral, bacterial and protozoal). These get transmitted to humans through arthropod vectors that feed on blood. The Lyme disease zoonosis is a case in point. It has also been highlighted that a diverse assemblage of wild vertebrates can dilute the impact of the principal reservoir of Lyme disease. This reduces disease spread to humans. This logic is understood commonly as the “dilution effect”.

Green infrastructure is needed both for rural and urban landscapes. All land parcels at a landscape scale become important — forests, rural and urban. The inherent interaction between such parcels constitutes landscape dynamics. The causal schema of infectious zoonotic diseases warrants green spaces (natural or man-made) around villages. This will prevent the disease from spreading to other parcels. Such spaces also buffer human-wildlife interface complications.

Urban smart planning also needs to ensure the centrality of green infrastructure. Basic normatives vis-à-vis build space are required to ensure minimum green infrastructural elements in each locality; some new, and others retrofitted, designed with nature.

Much is known about urban green spaces and health. United Nations Environment Programme and associates have brought up an assessment in the context of breaking the chain of transmission in pandemics. The importance of “One Health” in managing and preventing zoonosis has been highlighted. It is well known that pathogens originate in animals, and the disease spills over to humans largely on account of human actions like livestock reproduction, fragmented ecosystems, or unsustainable wildlife exploitation.

India has launched the country’s first “One Health” consortium. Innovative actions such as the National Health Mission, Ayushman Bharat, and Swachh Bharat are milestones for achieving good health and well-being. These are in sync with the umbrella approach of One Health. The One Health approach is collaborative, involving several disciplines to secure optimal health for people, animals and ecosystems. A parallel and related approach, “Eco Health” has also been defined to connote participatory approaches for knowing and promoting the well-being of social and ecological interactions. Both approaches are multi-disciplinary, warranting collaboration, and targeting the welfare of human, animal and environmental health targets. A third concept, “Planetary Health” has a focus on human health in relation to global sustainability. The strategic framework of the World Health Organization, World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) and the Food and Agriculture Organization has highlighted important elements like robust public and animal health systems, preventing regional and international crises by controlling disease outbreaks, promoting collaboration, developing rational and targeted disease control programmes and addressing consent of the poor by focusing on developing economies, from potential to actual disease problems.

Green infrastructure is no doubt sustainable. But sustainability also requires ownership of society. Hence, the concept needs to be fostered as a simple citizen science with gainful community stewardship. It needs to figure more prominently at the district-level planning. Educational and village-level institutions are important in the context. There are numerous options available to institutionalise the same in urban locales.

Nature is a great teacher and we live to learn.

Rajesh Gopal is secretary general, Global Tiger Forum. The views expressed are personal