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| Biodiversity and Human Health | | |
Dr. Banarsi Lal and Dr. Pawan Sharma
Every year 5th of June is celebrated as the World Environment Day to mark the environmental awareness among the people across the globe. This day is the most renowned day for the environmental action. The major objective of the event is to protect the nature and contemplate on growing environmental issues. On this day various government and Non-Government Organisations (NGOs), individuals, communities, charities, institutions etc. create awareness on environmental issues. It is celebrated by organizing various webinars, lectures, conventions, online campaigns, tree plantation, essay writing, painting competitions etc. This particular day marks the significance of nature in our lives. Nature has many benefits from the food we eat to the air we breathe, the water we drink etc. Despite so many benefits, we mistreat the nature. The theme of 2020 World Environment Day is “Celebrate Biodiversity”. Biodiversity plays a significant role in survival of the life on the mother Earth. Biodiversity provides us food, water and various other resources as well as services such as recycling of nutrients, climate control, pollination and flood mitigation. This particular day is dedicated to spread the awareness and message among the people to save the environment and planet Earth. In 1972, the United Nations Conference on the human environment was held from 5th June to 16th June.
After that, every year 5th of June is celebrated as the World Environment Day. Today, we have 7 continents on planet Earth. Every human being has only one dream which is to live better, to eat better and to consume better. But majority of them never care for the environment and planet Earth. Present population is more than 7 billion in the world but we have only one planet to live and survive. We have limited food, limited place and limited shelters. If we keep on using natural resources as we are doing every day, a day will come when our own grand children shall be forced to live homeless with full of hunger. So it’s better to consume the natural resources with care and responsibility. So, we should stop the wastage of natural resources and use them according to our need not on our greed. Each of us knows the importance of nature. It consists of all the living beings on the earth, which are mutually interdependent on each other. But due to the excessive pollution caused by human beings, many species are becoming extinct and the global climate is also changing at a very rapid rate. The changing climate is inversely affecting our health and also going to give a long term effect on our future generations. We know that millions of people on the Earth depend on forest for their livelihood. Every living being is dependent on plants and trees. Only the plants and trees can make our food. But, we people are degrading the forests in a rapid rate. Every year, pollinators like bees help three-fourth of the worlds flowering plants and reproduce about 35 per cent of the world’s food.
The year 2020 began with environmental crisis. Cyclones and floods created havoc and washed away many trees and infrastructure. Recent bushfires in Brazil, the United States and Australia, global COVID-19 pandemic and locusts attack in India and Africa indicate that human health is closely dependent with the environmental health.
The current environmental crisis indicates that we must rethink for our relationship with the natural ecosystem. There is dire need to think on biodiversity. Ultimately human health depends on the ecosystem products and services. Loss of biodiversity causes the direct impact on the human health. Changes in the ecosystem services can impact our livelihoods, rural migration and may cause other conflicts among the human beings. Loss of biodiversity may limit the research for the potential treatments of many diseases. Human actions such as deforestations, intensified agriculture, encroachments on wildlife habitats and climate change have pushed the nature beyond its limit. If we continue our activities in the same way then we can face the severe implications in future.
Technologies have made our lives comfortable but deteriorated the environment. When we destroy the nature, we destroy the system that supports us. Presently about one million species are facing extinction. There is dire need to re-examine our relationship with nature. Although we are having numerous technological advancements but still we are completely dependent on healthy ecosystem for our food, clothes, shelter, health, water, medicines, fuel, energy etc. 2020 year can be said as the year of challenges, opportunities and solutions. It seems from the year 2020 that there is dire need to conserve the biodiversity for the benefits of life on the Earth. This year we can celebrate the World Environment Day by using the digital media campaigns, webinars and sending different videos, pictures, messages etc. through the Watsapp, Facebook etc. It is fact that nature acts as the solution of our many solutions. Nature is closely associated with the climate change, food security and health. Biodiversity is badly affected due to our short-sighted activities including infrastructure development, chemical farming, deforestation, mining etc.
All these activities have degraded the ecosystem and have created the pandemic like situations. All the nations across the globe are endevouring to end the COVID-19 pandemic. There is urgent need to work together for the resilient and sustainable global economy. The exploitation of renewable and non-renewable energy resources and rapid increase in the urbanization are severely affecting the biodiversity. Sustainable development is the only way to mitigate the needs of our present and future generations. It also ensures the health of the planet Earth. It has been observed that around 25 per cent of all animals and plants species are threatened with extinction. On this particular day we should create awareness on preserving the endangered habitats among the people.
Biodiversity is the foundation for our food and health and plays a key catalyst to transforming food systems and improving human health. A wide range of events are organized globally to increase the understanding of the important role of biodiversity for our present and future generations. The biodiversity we observe today is the outcome of over 3.5 billion years of evolutionary history, shaped by the natural processes. Biodiversity is the foundation for the life and for the essential services provided by ecosystems. It plays as a key catalyst to transform our food system system and thus improves the human health. It underpins peoples’ livelihoods and sustainable development in all realms of socio-economical activity, including agriculture, forestry, fisheries, tourism etc. Biodiversity is a global asset. Biodiversity forms the web of life of which we are an integral part and upon which we are fully dependent. Biological diversity is the natural biotic capital of the earth which affects all of us. Human beings derive the supply of food, medicines, energy and many industrial products from biological resources. The environmental crisis is an existential threat. Pandemics are related to the environmental crisis, helping to nurture and host novel germs. Even in present era many people are not aware about some serious environmental issues-from air pollution to toxic dumps to pesticides to loss of biodiversity. There are enormous challenges but there are also vast opportunities on environmental action.
Environmental protection is considered as the biggest challenge for the mankind. India is one of the richest nations in the world in terms of biological diversity. India has about 15,000 species of flowering plants, 969 species of birds, 389 species of reptiles and 317 species of mammals. India has relatively large number of frogs, salamanders and their kith and kins. Brazil is the most biologically diverse nation in the world. India stands 10th in terms of biological diversity. Some parts of the country are very rich due to a variety of natural causes in biological diversity and some are less. The Loss of biodiversity across the globe has increased alarmingly and many wildlife and plant species are on the verge of extinction. Strenuous efforts are needed to protect the biodiversity. We all need to understand that biodiversity is the foundation for our life and ultimately it ensures our livelihoods and sustainable development. We need to protect the environment by changing our lifestyles, by shunning the use of plastics, growing the plants and using the alternate sources of energy. It’s time to build a better planet. |
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