4 Environmental Wins in 2020

Photo by Reinier van Oorsouw

As we ease our way into 2021, let’s not forget about 2020 just yet. Last year was a year full of challenges and opportunities. We will never forget how a world-wide pandemic impacted the lives of billions of people, shook our economies and caused a peak in plastic pollution in our environment. 

Even though there is still plenty to do in 2021 in the battle against climate change, ecocide and social inequalities, 2020 also brought us a plethora of positive changes which deserve to be celebrated. 

Now is the time to look back and to recap some of the success stories. Keep reading to look back on some of the biggest environmental wins of 2020.

1. Ocean Conservation

In December of 2020, 14 key nations committed to collectively protect our oceans. 

These 14 members include: Australia, Canada, Chile, Ghana, Indonesia, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Namibia, Norway, Portugal, and the island nations of Fiji, Jamaica, and Palau. The focus of this commitment will be on the protection of all of the oceans, rather than solely on marine protected areas. Additionally, the ocean will be considered part of the solution to solving climate change. 

According to National Geographic (2020), some solutions offered by the panel include the restoration of mangroves and seagrass as well as tracking down illegal fishing vessels. The 14 leaders are now also inviting other nations to join the agreement to collectively manage 100% of the oceans. This agreement is a great step in the right direction for ocean conservation and offers hope for the future of the oceans. 

2. Decreasing Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Despite the negative impacts caused by COVID-19, the changes in our human behavior as a result of the pandemic led to an overall reduction in the emission of greenhouse gasses. 

Due to stay-at-home measures and lockdown policies, there has been less traffic on the road and in the air than expected, resulting in less CO2 emitted. Several newspapers around the world released articles on the improved air quality due to the measures. According to a study by Wang et al. (2020), the lockdown in China caused a huge decrease in CO2 emissions. Their study shows that the air quality index (AQI) went down by 12.2%, especially in urban areas. The effects were the most noticeable in northern areas of China, which are more industrialized, economically active and have more households with a higher income level. Other cities and metropolitan areas from London to  Los Angeles to Delhi saw similar effects like reduced smog and higher air quality. 

Even with the kinds of drops in CO2 levels noted around the world, efforts to continue decreasing our global CO2 emissions will need to be ambitious as levels are expected to return post-pandemic. Hope rests in the fact that more and more nations are finally promising to reduce their current high greenhouse gas emissions. In September president Xi Jingping has announced that China will aim to hit peak emissions before 2030 and for carbon neutrality by 2060. This is a huge step in the fight against climate change as China is the biggest single source of carbon dioxide and makes up for approximately 28% of global emissions. Other countries will likely follow suit. 

3. Initiatives Against Plastic Pollution: PeukMeuk Cigarette Butt Cleanup

Although the pandemic caused an unfortunate spike in plastic pollution, with gloves and facemasks ending up littered on our streets and as plastic soup in our oceans, in other ways there were some initiatives who took the initiative to keep our cities and oceans clean. 

In the Netherlands, the PeukMeuk Collective organized the PeukMeuk cleanup on the 5th of September, which brought together environmental organizations including our very own Sea Going Green. Together we picked up littered cigarette butts in our home city of Amsterdam to spread awareness on the issue of plastic pollution caused by littered cigarette butts. 

In less than three hours, more than 124,000 cigarette butts were collected. This event was a good example of how the actions of individuals can lead to real change. Following the cleanup event, the PeukMeuk Collective managed to get the issue of littered plastic cigarette butts on the agenda of the Dutch Secretary of State, Stientje van Veldhoven, who agreed to look into the matter and discuss with tobacco producers. 

This was a huge step in the right direction of making the tobacco industry take responsibility for the plastic pollution caused by littered cigarettes in The Netherlands and beyond. Hopefully this movement will inspire organizations in other countries to spread awareness on the problem of plastic pollution caused by littered cigarettes and will encourage governments to take measures against the production of plastic filters inside cigarettes. Click here to see the aftermovie of the clean up.

4. Destinations Took A Breather from Tourists

Due to the expansive growth of the tourism sector over the last few decades, many destinations experienced a surpassing of their carrying capacities pre-COVID-19; meaning that there were too many people for a destination to be (socio-)environmentally healthy and sustainable. 

Areas that experienced overcrowding and the phenomenon of overtourism have luckily had some time during the pandemic in 2020 to rest and recover. Without the stresses of tourism, destinations took a well-deserved break from the usual tourism masses. In many destinations and cities like Amsterdam, this resulted in “ghost-town like” empty streets in the areas that are normally wall-to-wall full of tourists.

In some areas, the decrease in human activity benefitted threatened species, who thrived in the absence of humans bothered by less pollution and nuisances. Many stories emerged, both true and false, of dolphins being spotted in the desolated canals of Venice and thousands of sea turtles safely laying their eggs on beaches in India. This shows us the importance of sustainable tourism, conservation and the need for the protection of natural resources and species to ensure their survival. 

Takeaways

Although there are still many battles to be fought to prevent climate change and realize the SDGs, 2020 has inspired many to be more mindful of our environment. In some ways 2020 might have been the mirror humankind needed to look into to stimulate the changes that must be taken to save our planet. Real change can only happen once lessons are learned from history. As Winston Churchill once said: “The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see”.

The question is now: how will we respond once travel is possible again? Will some tourism players and businesses go back to the old ways, focusing on short-term economic gains, or will they adapt and switch to act more sustainably? 

Only time will tell, but we are hopefully able to summarize many more environmental wins in 2021! 

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