Lockdowns made people recognise the love for nature

NEW DELHI: One positive fallout from the lockdowns we have had since March is that we have recognised how much we love natural beauty. People are posting photos of birds, mountains and blue skies, cooing in delight on social media.

This might change as we unlock ourselves completely. But it leaves us with a plan — to ensure every resident of urban India is able to enjoy natural beauty in some form or the other in close proximity of their homes.

What is natural beauty? It could be a road lined with mature trees, a rippling lake, a grassland or desert, blue skies, a tiny, dense patch of forest on an empty plot, birds on one’s balcony.

These are the things that have thrilled people widely, and most noticeably, during the lockdown. Unfortunately, our cities underestimate the power of nature in making us happy, enhancing our quality of life. Is it worthwhile pushing for an entire Smart Cities Mission without such essentials?

Discussions around the postCovid city have featured transportation, social distancing, the explosion of e-commerce and new infrastructure. But they don’t focus on this fundamental human need, even human right. It’s vital to make this a central feature of the new normal .

To do this, civic agencies must map what exists, conserve it and fill the gaps with directions and monitoring from the public.

This fundamentally alters how we plan land use. For example: you can’t reclaim a lake, or chop off trees for new infra, because you’re depriving maybe, the residents of slums, of their right to natural beauty. The lockdowns have made this clear.