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1.
Urban Climate ; 46:101312, 2022.
Article in English | ScienceDirect | ID: covidwho-2069759

ABSTRACT

COVID-19 lockdowns enabled researchers to examine air quality in response to economic shifts. However, sub-Saharan African studies are limited, and lockdowns in tropical countries coincided with the wet season. We provide the first record of variations (including diurnal change, daytime and nighttime curfew) in concentrations of black carbon related to fossil fuel burning (BCff) and biomass burning (BCbb) for 2020, focused on three periods: before lockdown (P1: February 8–March 21), lockdown (P2: March 22–May 3), and after lockdown (P3: May 04–June 14) in 2020, with the same periods in 2018 and 2019 used as a control. The annual average BC concentration in Kigali City was 7.8 μg/m3 in 2020. During curfew hours, BCff was reduced by 59% between P2 and P3 (not observed in previous years), which indicates that the lockdown improved transport-related air pollution in Kigali only during curfew hours. No significant change was observed in BCbb concentrations. When COVID-19 restrictions were lifted, black carbon exceeded the same period in previous years. There is evidence for a link between the decline in Rwanda's vehicle use and a reduction in BCff, suggesting that air pollution in African cities could be reduced by promoting sustainable transportation.

2.
Biol Conserv ; 263: 109175, 2021 Nov.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1240201

ABSTRACT

The global lockdown to mitigate COVID-19 pandemic health risks has altered human interactions with nature. Here, we report immediate impacts of changes in human activities on wildlife and environmental threats during the early lockdown months of 2020, based on 877 qualitative reports and 332 quantitative assessments from 89 different studies. Hundreds of reports of unusual species observations from around the world suggest that animals quickly responded to the reductions in human presence. However, negative effects of lockdown on conservation also emerged, as confinement resulted in some park officials being unable to perform conservation, restoration and enforcement tasks, resulting in local increases in illegal activities such as hunting. Overall, there is a complex mixture of positive and negative effects of the pandemic lockdown on nature, all of which have the potential to lead to cascading responses which in turn impact wildlife and nature conservation. While the net effect of the lockdown will need to be assessed over years as data becomes available and persistent effects emerge, immediate responses were detected across the world. Thus, initial qualitative and quantitative data arising from this serendipitous global quasi-experimental perturbation highlights the dual role that humans play in threatening and protecting species and ecosystems. Pathways to favorably tilt this delicate balance include reducing impacts and increasing conservation effectiveness.

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