Impacts of the COVID‐19 pandemic on human–nature interactions: Pathways, evidence and implications

Masashi Soga; Maldwyn J. Evans; Daniel T. C. Cox; Kevin J. Gaston

doi:10.1002/pan3.10201

journal article Open Access Apr 06, 2021

Impacts of the COVID‐19 pandemic on human–nature interactions: Pathways, evidence and implications

Masashi Soga

Maldwyn J. Evans Daniel T. C. Cox

Kevin J. Gaston

People and Nature Vol. 3 No. 3 pp. 518-527 · Wiley

View at Publisher Save 10.1002/pan3.10201

Abstract

Abstract

The coronavirus (COVID‐19) pandemic and the global response have dramatically changed people's lifestyles in much of the world. These major changes, as well as the associated changes in impacts on the environment, can alter the dynamics of the direct interactions between humans and nature (hereafter human–nature interactions) far beyond those concerned with animals as sources of novel human coronavirus infections. There may be a variety of consequences for both people and nature.

Here, we suggest a conceptual framework for understanding how the COVID‐19 pandemic might affect the dynamics of human–nature interactions. This highlights three different, but not mutually exclusive, pathways: changes in (a) opportunity, (b) capability and (c) motivation.

Through this framework, we also suggest that there are several feedback loops by which changes in human–nature interactions induced by the COVID‐19 pandemic can lead to further changes in these interactions such that the impacts of the pandemic could persist over the long term, including after it has ended.

The COVID‐19 pandemic, which has had the most tragic consequences, can also be viewed as a ‘global natural experiment’ in human–nature interactions that can provide unprecedented mechanistic insights into the complex processes and dynamics of these interactions and into possible strategies to manage them to best effect.

A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.

Topics

No keywords indexed for this article. Browse by subject →

References

63

[1]

10.1017/s000842392000044x

[2]

10.3389/fevo.2018.00175

[3]

10.3390/rs13020258

[4]

Cerri J. "COVID‐19 has led to a global increase in web searches for bats: A risk for conservation?" EcoEvoRxiv (2020)

[5]

10.1016/s2542-5196(20)30107-8

[6]

10.1016/j.jenvp.2020.101545

[7]

10.1098/rstb.2017.0092

[8]

Cox D. T. C. "Doses of neighbourhood nature: The benefits for mental health of living with nature" BioScience (2017)

[9]

10.1007/s10640-020-00489-y

[10]

COVID-19-induced visitor boom reveals the importance of forests as critical infrastructure

Jakob Derks, Lukas Giessen, Georg Winkel

Forest Policy and Economics 10.1016/j.forpol.2020.102253

[11]

Derryberry E. P. "Singing in a silent spring: Birds respond to a half‐century soundscape reversion during the COVID‐19 shutdown" Science (2020)

[12]

10.1038/s43017-020-0079-1

[13]

10.1136/bjsports-2020-102575

[14]

10.1016/j.envres.2020.110420

[15]

10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.19686

[16]

10.1016/j.tree.2018.09.012

[17]

10.1007/s11676-020-01249-w

[18]

Gordo O. "Rapid behavioral response of urban birds to covid‐19 lockdown" bioRxiv (2020)

[19]

10.1093/geroni/igaa057.3474

[20]

10.1371/journal.pone.0243344

[21]

10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.140931

[22]

10.1002/fee.2230

[23]

10.1016/j.landurbplan.2016.08.020

[24]

Opportunity or Orientation? Who Uses Urban Parks and Why

Brenda B. Lin, Richard A. Fuller, Robert Bush et al.

PLoS ONE 10.1371/journal.pone.0087422

[25]

10.1016/j.biocon.2020.108650

[26]

10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.139281

[27]

10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113104

[28]

The behaviour change wheel: A new method for characterising and designing behaviour change interventions

Susan Michie, Maartje M van Stralen, Robert West

Implementation Science 10.1186/1748-5908-6-42

[29]

10.1016/j.tree.2005.05.013

[30]

10.1186/s12966-020-00987-8

[31]

Olsen J. (2020)

[32]

Pérez‐Urrestarazu L. "Particularities of having plants at home during the confinement due to the COVID‐19 pandemic" Urban Forestry & Urban Greening (2020)

[33]

Pouso S. "Maintaining contact with blue‐green spaces during the COVID‐19 pandemic associated with positive mental health" Science of the Total Environment (2020)

[34]

10.1016/j.ajp.2020.102066

[35]

10.3390/ijerph17197310

[36]

10.1016/j.jenvp.2013.08.004

[37]

10.2989/00306525.2020.1783589

[38]

10.1007/s10640-020-00445-w

[39]

RSPB (2020)

[40]

10.1038/s41559-020-1237-z

[41]

Salari N. "Prevalence of stress, anxiety, depression among the general population during the COVID‐19 pandemic: A systematic review and meta‐analysis" Globalization and Health (2020)

[42]

10.1080/10871209.2020.1799267

[43]

10.1016/j.biocon.2021.109013

[44]

10.1016/j.landurbplan.2019.103634

[45]

10.1002/eap.2248

[46]

10.1016/j.biocon.2020.108420

[47]

Extinction of experience: the loss of human–nature interactions

Masashi Soga, Kevin J Gaston

Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 10.1002/fee.1225

[48]

10.1098/rspb.2019.1882

[49]

10.1016/j.landurbplan.2018.08.015

[50]

10.1890/150229

Showing 50 of 63 references

Metrics

137

Citations

63

References

Details

Published: Apr 06, 2021
Vol/Issue: 3(3)
Pages: 518-527
License: View

Authors

M

Masashi Soga

Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences The University of Tokyo Tokyo Japan

M

Maldwyn J. Evans

Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences The University of Tokyo Tokyo Japan; Fenner School of Environment and Society The Australian National University Canberra ACT Australia

D

Daniel T. C. Cox

Environment and Sustainability Institute University of Exeter Penryn UK

K

Kevin J. Gaston

Environment and Sustainability Institute University of Exeter Penryn UK

Funding

Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Award: 20H04375

Toyota Foundation Award: D19‐R‐0102

Cite This Article

Masashi Soga, Maldwyn J. Evans, Daniel T. C. Cox, et al. (2021). Impacts of the COVID‐19 pandemic on human–nature interactions: Pathways, evidence and implications. People and Nature, 3(3), 518-527. https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10201

Impacts of the COVID‐19 pandemic on human–nature interactions: Pathways, evidence and implications

You May Also Like