Published in Dwarka Express on 8.6.24

The world environment day comes and goes on 5^th June, every year, reminding us that we have to protect the environment on all 365 days. But how many of us take note? We will come back to the question later. First let us see the theme. This year the theme of World Environment Day is “Land restoration, desertification and drought resilience”. As per UN Convention to Combat Desertification, up to 40 per cent of the planet’s land is degraded, directly affecting half of the world’s population. Man depends on land. But the fact is that he pollutes, create climate chaos, and biodiversity decimation thus turning the fertile land into deserts, which ultimately destroys the ecosystems, agriculture, and communities. This results in starvation for resources like water, clean air and green cover. In turn, this means crop failures, depleting water table and resource scarcity. In fact, the poorest are hardest hit. Sustainable development is only on paper. Thus, we have landed in a vicious cycle.

Time has come to revisit the lifestyle that we are accustomed to. All countries of the world must work on restoring degraded ecosystems and land. All countries need to draft their national climate action plans to set out how they will halt and reverse deforestation by 2030. And United nations must drastically scale-up finance to support developing countries to adapt to violent weather, protect nature, and support sustainable development. At this crucial junction, keeping silent will prove to be costly. Quick action is the need of the hour. Every 100-rupee invested in ecosystem restoration will yield 30 times in economic benefits. Our generation in fact could be considered as restoration generation. If we miss the bus now, it will prove costlier.

South Express was talking to one of the environmental activists from Gujrat. He was highly critical of the celebration. Talking further to him, he said that he does not believe such one-day celebrations which are cosmetic and showbiz events. He is correct in a way. Non-Government Organisations and institutions just plant a few trees and leave it forever. Neither they water the saplings nor they are interested in remembering the species and whether the sapling is placed at the right place. Today the tree planting has become a mockery of the sorts. But we believe that such important days at global parlance are definitely a reminder for genuine activists to rededicate themselves as well as to identify new team to work for environment and the like. If out of 100 trees planted even if 10 trees withstand the weather conditions and survive, this will definitely help the environment. There is positive as well as negative side of every single activity undertaken by man. But what is to be seen is the positivity in everything