Breakdown and Enforcement of Borders During COVID-19
The spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has highly impacted relations between countries. The positive side of globalization has been shown through different nations assisting aid of others in crisis, world organizations helping nations most in need, and the coming together of nations in hopes of a vaccine cure. On the other hand, other nations are secluding themselves, claiming to prioritize their safety by closing their borders to others. During the spread of the coronavirus, the impact of globalization manifested as a breakdown of borders, while concerns of individual safety have also led to a reinforcement of borders resulting in negative economic and health implications for migrants of other highly infected countries.
Globalization has resulted in the collapse of borders during the pandemic as countries send their surplus medical supplies and equipment to nations affected the most by the coronavirus. China, where the virus was first found, received aid globally. After stabilizing their cases, China reciprocated the aid by sending testing kits, face masks, and PPE kits, among other supplies, to Italy, African nations, and other states. Taiwan agreed to donate 10 million masks to the United States, certain European countries, and its allies, along with a second shipment of six million masks to other nations. Taiwan’s readiness and assistance in combating the virus is significant given its exclusion from the WHO (due to China’s desire to propagate the “One China Principle”). The World Health Organization also helped by providing aid based on the level of urgency determined for the various nations and by stabilizing the broken supply chains. Additionally, international organizations like the SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) have established a COVID19 Emergency Fund, which is based on voluntary contributions, to be used by any member nation to fulfill their immediate needs.
Looking towards the end goal, the WHO has developed a plan to combat vaccine nationalism by taking contributions from self-financing, upper, and middle-income countries to provide funding for the vaccine accelerator program, COVAX. This program intends to account for equitable distribution across the globe by providing doses for at least 20% of countries’ populations, consolidating a diverse and actively managed portfolio of vaccines, and delivering those vaccines immediately. These actions would end the acute phase of the pandemic to begin rebuilding affected economies. This plan is seen as the only true global solution to the COVID-19 pandemic because, as seen before, with cases like the AIDS pandemic, isolated development cost untold numbers of lives in Africa and elsewhere while resources had been affordable and available for more than 20 years.
In the case of the Gaza Strip, a territory situated between Egypt and Israel, their people have been forced to face new challenges due to increased access restrictions and tightened borders. Egypt and Israel have been continuing to enforce heavy restrictions along the Gaza border based on security and safety concerns. In March 2020, Egypt completely shut their border crossing point, leaving the densely populated enclave of Gaza that is ill-equipped for the pandemic, even more vulnerable. Some countries have become so quick in fending for themselves that they are leaving others who need help even more endangered. A combination of heightened political conflicts, the pandemic, and the blockade has put an unprecedented strain on Gaza’s healthcare system. The reinforced barriers pose numerous challenges to Gaza, including the deterioration of medical infrastructure and the scarcity of medications, supplies, resources, and workers.
Countries who have been enacting harsher border policies have accounted for these measures based on protecting their national health. Bold measures such as border reinforcement may be justified as a matter of urgency to the cessation of the global pandemic, but it also surfaces negative economic and health implications to migrants in vulnerable countries. For example, countries like Bangladesh and Ghana rely on remittances from citizens abroad, but the disruption of migrant labor, the reliance on automation labor during this time, and complicated visa policies will impact families back in the developing world. Thus, people in developing and less advantaged countries will be forced to live under worse conditions than before (increased disease, death, poverty, and more). The combination of immigration and displacement issues will only continue to widen the economic and wealth gap between rich and developing countries.
In a span of a few months, COVID-19 became a pandemic that has impacted the entire world. In the age of globalization, a series of consequences of this pandemic has brought this global community together yet also pushed us further apart in various forms. This article claims that the impact of globalization has caused both the reinforcement and breakdown of barriers during the uncertain and challenging COVID-19 era. In this progressively more integrated yet chaotic climate, our world is not defined by the pandemic. The world we want is instead encompassed on the basic idea that, “At a time when the world faces a global pandemic and other formidable threats, we must join forces across borders and generations to work together for a better common future” (António Guterres, UN Secretary-General).
During the Paris Agreement in 2015, the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC) warned global leaders that the rise of global temperatures would cause irreversible climate change and natural catastrophes. The IPCC proposed a carbon budget to curb emissions and halt global temperatures from rising by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels by 2030. (). However, the world became a standstill when countries administered stay-at-home orders worldwide due to COVID-19 in March. Domestic and international travel reduced significantly and so abruptly that emissions from ground transportation and global aviation decreased by 17.8 % and 46.7% respectively during the first seven months of 2020 compared to 2019. (1) Global emissions this year are estimated to drop by 4-7% due to reduced mobility and activity from COVID-19 lockdowns (2). However, it has been observed in countries easing lockdown restrictions that transportation emissions have already begun rebounding. In China, transportation emissions decreased dramatically by 53.8% in February 2020 compared to the same period in 2019. This emission deficit has progressively reduced as restrictions loosened; by July 2020, transportation emissions in China decreased by only 4.2% compared to 2019 levels. (3) Oksana Tarasova, WMO Chief of Atmospheric and Environment Research Division, likened the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere to a tap filling up a bathtub with more and more water. Consequences from the COVID-19 lockdowns have only temporarily reduced the flow of the water, but the only true solution is to turn off the tap. Therefore, instead of reducing mobility, which COVID-19 lockdowns have accomplished, world leaders need to turn to sustainable solutions to reduce energy consumption, such as transitioning to solar energy sources and adopting the use of electric vehicles (4).
COVID-19 has dramatically altered our use of single-use plastics. People are increasingly utilizing plastic gloves and masks to protect themselves, businesses are increasingly using plastic shopping bags to protect their customers, and consumers are receiving more plastic-wrapped packages at their doorsteps to protect and satisfy their instinct for consumerism. However, our increasing consumption of single-use plastics is problematic. With most plastics not being biodegradable or readily recycled, more plastic is being discarded and is entering the environment due to COVID-19. It is now a common sight to see “discarded gloves and masks … littering streets and parks, and personal protective gear … washing up on beaches around the world.” These plastics present two problems, one on land and one in the sea. On land, we face an ever-increasing amount of plastic in landfills, cities, and the wilderness. These plastics will slowly decompose and will gradually fill our world. In the ocean, a similar problem arises: when plastic enters the water, it becomes saturated and descends to the bottom of the sea, where it can remain indefinitely. There, it presents a danger to sea life, as it can entangle, poison, or suffocate ocean wildlife. Therefore, by increasing our consumption of single-use plastics, we have caused more harm to our environment and have set ourselves on a destructive path that will be difficult to remedy.
All in all, the Covid-19 pandemic has greatly impacted society and our planet. It has changed the way we live, which had rippling effects on many different things, especially climate change. Although climate change has been a persistent factor in our lives, it has been worsened by the rebound in personal transportation methods, rather than carpooling and public transit, and the extreme increase in single-use plastic wares, like gloves, masks, takeout containers, utensils, and plastic bags. With the pandemic garnering most of the spotlight right now, years of positive actions and legislature against climate change have been discarded. Although it is of the utmost importance to keep the community safe from Covid-19, we must also make sure that we still are fighting to combat climate change before its detrimental effects are irreversible.