On many occasions, ZooLander has pointed out, with the continued threat to species, there may come a time when there will be a need for safe houses like the Noah’s Arc, as in the biblical story about varied species being saved from a great flood that washed across earth. In those articles Zoolander also highlighted the potential role of zoos in protecting the Earth’s biodiversity, by providing at least some of them, with a last home when risked with extinction in the wild. But it is not only the species that are impacted; the thoughtless and unsustainable actions of humans have also started impacting on them too, on a large scale at that.
A
recent study has revealed that there will be a need for an Earth that
is one and a half times the size of the Earth of today, to replenish the
annual consumption by humans. We are not giving enough time for mother
earth to revive from services and resources yeilded to us and this will
surely boomerang on all of us. The repercussions have already started to
impact. Humans burn fossil fuels for energy, which leads to emission of
carbon dioxide. This eventually leads to global warming which is now
triggering climate change and large scale catastrophes that are
happening around the world. The earth’s biodiversity too is in peril due
to human activity. Scientists estimate that by 2100 half the species
living on earth today will be in peril if we continue our actions in the
same manner that we are doing at present. Over exploitation, habitat
loss, introduction of invasive species - the list of threats is long. Silent Spring
The impact of human activities on the natural cycles came to light 50 years ago. Rachel Carson - an American environmental activist and author published a book that has been tagged as the first time in history in documenting how human activities impact nature. Marking the rise of the present day environmental movement, Carson wrote Silent Spring, which was published in 1962; in it she tells of how the extensive use of DDT resulted in the decline of bird populations. DDT has been commonly used as a pesticide and has penetrated to birds through lower levels of the food chain as the chemical is sprayed on worms and other insects. The birds that feed on these affected little creatures also ingested the DDT which accumulated in their bodies, which led to the thinning of the birds’ egg shells. So when the mother bird - with utmost care - sits on the eggs in the nests to hatch them, the shell crack.
Silent Spring first highlighted these facts which became an eye-opener, setting the stage for environmental activism. More and more people started talking about the need to protect the environment, and scientists started connecting the dots that led to the findings that revealed the causes of the “bad things” that had repercussions in destroying the environment.
Earth Summit
In recognition a landmark Environmental Summit was held in Stockholm in 1970. Held 40 years ago, it was the first time that an international level summit had been convened, to act in unison to protect the environment of the earth. However, industrialization continued to take its toll on the environment and the need for action was evident. The United Nations intervened and organized another landmark summit titled Earth Summit which was held in 1992. The Earth summit was attended by over 100 world leaders and inspired global environmental activism. The Earth Summit also launched 3 new conventions namely the Convention on Biological Diversity, Climate Change convention and the convention to Combat Desertification. Some salvage efforts have been taken during the past 20 years since the first Earth Summit, but the Environment continues to degrade putting the Earth in a worse position. The Earth’s population too is expanding rapidly calling for more exploitation of its resources.
Since 20 years from the original earth summit, this earth summit has been convened and in this backdrop, many believe the RIO + 20 is a ‘need of the hour’ summit to save Mother Earth. The main summit was held on 20, 21 and 22nd in Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro – and all the nations that are part of the United Nation’s family were in this city discussing and debating on how to move forward.
RIO + 20
Over 100 world leaders gathered in Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro to participate in the RIO + 20 summit, that has been set up as a follow-up to the original Earth Summit which was convened in the same city. The Earth summit held 20 years ago aimed to make human actions take on the sustainability path with the realization that we will deplete the earth’s natural resources if we proceed in a scenario of ‘business as usual’. Many pledges were made and nations agreed to take measures on sustainability to protect the environment. But though some effort has been taken to protect the environment, the Earth’s environment continues to be depleting.
It has been a debated that the 2012 summit would not be as successful as the summit held 20 years ago, but it did provide a forum for many parties to get together and interact, setting up common goals to protect the earth. The role of governments is very crucial in protecting the earth, but the political will of the leaders is often being questioned as decisions are made in many different blocs of power. As an attempt to push the need to act in a different way, another summit for legislators too was set up at RIO+20 as the participating legislators continue to push their governments forward.
The Rio+20 Summit had nearly 50,000 participants and the main theme was the Green Economy. Natural Capital was another subject discussed.Civil society and private sector too were represented and they too made pledges to seriously heed the need to protect the environment.
What is Natural Capital?
Natural capital is the extension of the economic notion of capital (manufactured means of production) to goods and services relating to the natural environment. Natural capital is thus the stock of natural ecosystems that yields a flow of valuable ecosystem goods or services into the future. For example, a stock of trees or fish provides a flow of new trees or fish, a flow which can be indefinitely sustainable. Natural capital may also provide services like recycling wastes or water catchment and erosion control. Since the flow of services from ecosystems requires that they function as whole systems, the structure and diversity of the system are important components of natural capital.
What is Green Economy?
The green economy is one that results in improved human well-being and social equity, while significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities. Green economy is an economy or economic development model based on sustainable development.
Published on LakbimaNews on 23.06.2012 www.lakbimanews.lk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5895%3Amother-earth-overloaded&Itemid=56
No comments:
Post a Comment