Inger Andersen, the head of the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP) wrote a new editorial, cautioning us that the positive impacts we’re seeing right now (air quality, greenhouse gases) are happening because of an immense economic slowdown and great human suffering.
She writes that after the pandemic has passed, we will need major efforts to “build back better” the world’s economy. We need to build an economy that leads to a healthy planet and healthy people, because “the health of the planet and the health of the people are one and the same.” The health of the planet plays an important role in the spread of vector-borne and zoonotic disease. And air pollution and climate change directly harm human health and the health of the planet.
She also writes that “any positive environmental impact in the wake of the pandemic” must come from “changing our production and consumption habits to cleaner and greener.” We need “long-term systemic” changes, and we need to be sure that any recovery or stimulus plans make our economy cleaner and greener, “with renewable energy, smart buildings, green transport, etc. “
It’s a very good editorial: https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/04/1061082
