PROTECT AND PRESERVE
“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed” -Mahatma Gandhi
Wishing you all Happy World Environmental Day : 2021, KAPMI
As we all know that every year that is today 5th June is celebrated as environmental day. This reminds people about their duties as an individual not to take mother earth for granted, importance of environment and also how we people cause problems to the environment.
World environment day is one of the biggest annual events organized by United Nations established in 1972. Which was the first day of the Stockholm conference on the human environment. In 1974 the theme of the environment day was ‘Only one Earth’ since then every year we have theme on environment day. People from more than 100 countries celebrate this day.
The main purpose of celebrating this day is to spread awareness about conservation of our environment. So, this year we have a theme that is environmental restoration. It is a process of recovering an impaired, damaged or destroyed ecosystem, for example- farmers in the eastern cape in south Africa have replanted indigenous thicket on 330 plots to kickstart, arguably one of the largest ecological experiment in the world.
The research shows that the indigenous plant “SPEAKBOOM” absorbed more carbon dioxide than most other trees in dry areas. This will allow farmers to earn an extra income by intaking carbon while rehabilitating their degraded land. The research also shows that the plant reduces erosion, builds up soil quality keep moisture and increases bio-diversity. Landscape restoration gives them the opportunity to generate alternative income while taking climate action. This is in the line with the UN’s decade ecosystem restoration which aims to restore 350 million HA by 2030.
The major aspect is as an individual what can we do to restore our environment. Government taking action is secondary, primarily it is important for every individual to contribute to the restoration of environment. If each person does their individual duties as responsible human, we can bring about great changes in the environment. There are lots of human activities that are affecting the environment like no proper waste management, soil erosion, deforestation, water pollution and many more. India is the second most populated country in the world hence it is imperative for us to have an efficient waste management system.
In order to have an efficient waste management system it is essential for us to segregate waste systematically and contribute for a better future. Deforestation is a major problem, nowadays people plant trees which is a good thing but only doing that is not going to solve the problem along with that we need to reduce the amount of trees we cut. We should play our role effectively as responsible individuals in every aspect simultaneously the government should impose stringent rules to protect the environment by imposing hefty fines against people disrupting the ecosystem.
The Global outbreak of Covid-19 has unprecedently affected human lives and daily activities but it has improved the air quality and reduced water pollution in most cities due to lockdown. There has been significant reduction in carbon emissions which has restored the ecosystem. Our greed has resulted in catastrophes which in return has affected our very own survival.
But disposal of medical waste like mask, gloves, disinfectant and the burden of untreated waste has also increased, multifold during the pandemic. We should dispose it in an effective manner so that it doesn’t pose as a threat to other beings around us.
World environment day is a platform to bring about positive change, every individual should realize the need to protect the environment which lies in one’s hand. As it is believed one small change can bring about a greater change to make the world a better place to live in.