We all know that the oxygen that we breathe is created by green plants. We know that beyond being the beautiful backdrop to every season, they are part of the earth’s atmosphere and the habitat for numerous creatures!
We also know that in any attempt to do away with those plants, we’d be gone. Alas! Still, we do it! And the result is that the health of the ecosystems in which we and other species live is waning more rapidly than ever.
But sadly, hardly any day now goes by without reports about droughts or floods, new oil spills or forest fires, or the threatened extinction of a species or even a mutated microbe. The fact is that these climate extremes are becoming more frequent, more severe, longer, and larger!
Unscrupulous and predatory human activities like dumping waste, polluting the air, cutting down forests, mining, and monoculture agriculture are all destroying the natural order and balance. Interestingly, much of our civilisation and advancement have come at the expense of other species and our environment!
Scientists have long warned that the lives of current and future generations are under threat as the world is moving dangerously towards an environmental catastrophe. If Earth’s temperature rises much higher, our planet will become uninhabitable, they warn.
According to the eighth report of the Lancet Countdown project, the global population will face a nearly five-fold increase in heat-related deaths by 2050, while climate inaction is already costing lives and well-being today.
An estimated seven million people die each year from causes related to air pollution, with a majority occurring in the Asia-Pacific region, which is otherwise exceptionally rich in biodiversity with rich land and water ecosystems.
Environmental pollution is one of the biggest issues that the world is facing today. We are putting too much pressure on the natural environment. One-fifth of the earth's land is now degraded. The soil is losing its fertility, and in most places, soil pollution makes it difficult to grow crops.
Our lakes are shriveling up. Our forests are disappearing. Our farms are turning into dust bowls. All these are at the cost of the well-being of more than three billion people.
Against this backdrop, the world is celebrating Environment Day today to raise awareness about our environment, prevent damage to it through human activities, and protect the Earth.
World Environment Day falls on June 5 every year since it was established in 1972. Approximately 143 countries worldwide celebrate this day, which was instituted by the United Nations. This day is the largest global platform for environmental public outreach.
With the theme “Reviving lands for a brighter future," the focus of the celebrations will be on land restoration, stopping desertification, and building drought resilience. It is hosted by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, a Gulf Cooperation Council country.
As Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, Deputy Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme, pointed out, “Our priority now must be on restoring ecosystems — on replanting our forests, on rewetting our marshes, on reviving our soils.”
Restoration can create havens for wildlife, helping to foil the extinction crisis gripping our planet. It can counter climate change by reviving the ability of forests and rivers to store planet-warming carbon.
“This World Environment Day is a golden opportunity to spur hundreds of millions of people to take action. We are the generation that can make peace with land," she reminds us.
Be it the wonders of the natural world or life lessons we learn from, there's something for everyone to learn from our environment. So let us undo the damage we have done; let us give a better future for our generations!
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