World Environment At Crossroads

PART - I 

The most ancient reference on the environment is enumerated in the Vedas, wherein the Vedic seers had a  grand  vision  about universe. They fathomed the universe as consisting of three intertwined webs: Prithivi, Antariksha and Dyau. In reference to environmental study, we regard the division of the universe as the most important concept of the Vedas.

Hinduism has always been an environmentally sensitive philosophy. No religion, perhaps, lays as much emphasis on environmental ethics as Hinduism. The Mahabharata, Ramayana, Vedas, Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, Puranas and Smriti contain the earliest messages for the preservation of environment and ecological balance. Nature, or Earth, has never been considered a  hostile element to  be conquered or dominated.  In fact, man is forbidden from exploiting nature.

Meaning: “May there be Peace in Heaven, Sky, Earth, Water, Plants, Trees; May there be Peace in All.”

Meaning: “Take what you need for your sustenance without a sense of entitlement or ownership.” – Isha Upanishad

It is clear that the Vedic vision to live in harmony with environment was not merely physical but was far wider and much comprehensive and this wish can be fulfilled only when environment will be unpolluted, clean and peaceful.

In the Bible too, God commands man to be a steward of the environment. Isaiah and Jeremiah prophesy about the dire consequences that occur when man disobeys God and fails to take care of the Earth:

Isaiah 24:4-6

“The earth dries up and withers, the world languishes and withers, the exalted of the earth languish. The earth is defiled by its people; they have disobeyed the laws, violated the statutes and broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore a curse consumes the earth; its people must bear their guilt. Therefore earth's inhabitants are burned up, and very few are left.”

Jeremiah 2:7

“I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce. But you came and defiled my land and made my inheritance detestable.”

The foods we eat, the air we breathe, the water we drink and the climate that makes our planet habitable all come from Nature. Yet, these are exceptional times in which Nature is sending us a message:

To care for ourselves we must care for Nature.

It’s time to wake up, take notice and raise our voices.

It’s time to build back better for People and Planet.

This World Environment Day, it’s Time for Nature.

Significance and History of the World Environment Day

In 1972, the United Nations General Assembly established the World Environment Day on the first day of the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment. Every year, World Environment Day is observed on June 5.

As stated by the the United Nations, “The celebration of this day provides us with an opportunity to broaden the basis for an enlightened opinion and responsible conduct by individuals, enterprises, and communities in preserving and enhancing the environment.” This day is celebrated to encourage awareness and environmental protection.

Theme for 2020 and its Highlights

The theme for 2020 is Biodiversity, a concern that is both urgent and existential. “Recent events, from bushfires in Brazil, the United States, and Australia to locust infestations across East Africa, Pakistan and now India; a global disease Corona virus pandemic demonstrate the interdependence of humans and the webs of life, in which they exist," the UN said in a statement. 

This year Colombia, one of the world’s environmentally diverse countries and home to nearly ten percent of the planet’s biodiversity, in partnership with Germany; is hosting World Environment Day 2020.

Some Hard Facts: Did you know?

• Biodiversity involves 8 million plant and animal species, the ecosystems that house them, and the genetic diversity among them.
• In the last 150 years, the live coral reef cover has been reduced by half.
• Coral reef ecosystems cover just 0.1 per cent of the ocean, yet they support 25% of its life and the lives of half a billion people on land.
• Within the next 10 years, one out of every four known species may have been wiped off the planet.
• It would take 1.6 Earths to meet the demands that humans make on nature each year.
• Last year, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), found that ‘one million species are threatened with extinction.
• Eighty seven of the 115 leading global food crops depend on insect or animal pollination.
• Between 50,000 to 70,000 plant species are harvested for traditional or modern medicine.
• Nature is on the verge of a breakdown. One million animal and plant species are likely to disappear soon.
• Over 80 trillion aluminium cans are recycled every year, and just one of them is enough to power a TV for 3 hours!
• According to a WWF report, the rate at which the population is growing, it is estimated that humankind will need three planets to sustain life by the year 2050.
• Food waste across the world contributes to 14% of global carbon emissions.
• Around 27,000 trees are cut down every day to supply the growing demand for toilet paper.
• 73 different kinds of pesticides reside in groundwater which is used by the populace as drinking water
• Over 70% of industrial wastes are dumped into water bodies by developing countries around the world.
• 1 million seabirds and 100 million mammals die every year due to water pollution.
• Only 1% of Earth’s water is fit for consumption.
• 5-10 million people die each year from illness as a result of water pollution.
• 3 trillion gallons of wastewater is dumped in oceans every year.
• 250 million people around the world do not have fresh water to drink.
• 27% of the world’s cities do not have the infrastructure for safe drinking water.
• 15 million children less than 5 years old die due to water borne diseases.

(Source: UNO, CSE, WHO)

Major Environmental Issues Confronting the World

Over the years, the environment had been changing, and not for the better. Until, it was the USA Vice President, Al Gore, who brought the environment issue to the fore with his ominous book An Inconvenient Truth, which he followed up with an imposing documentary of the same name, informing the world of the dangers posed by climate change. He stirred up a sleeping world and won the Nobel Peace Prize 2007 jointly with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The world woke up to a reality of cataclysmic proportions.

Watch the prodigious documentary:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bu6SE5TYrCM

Here is a list of the current major environmental issues you’ll hear about and you should be concerned about:

• Public Health
• Urban Sprawl
• Waste Disposal
• Overpopulation
• Loss of Biodiversity
• Water Pollution
• Pollution
• Deforestation
• Ecosystems & Endangered Species
• Climate Change

Effect of the Corona virus pandemic on environment

Before the COVID-19 pandemic hit us, probably the only major issue that confronted us was the deteriorating environment due to a host of human-intervened activities: the toxic air around us, the greenhouse gas emissions, the rising surface temperature of the Earth, the melting of the glaciers and rising sea levels. Environmental degradation was happening fast due to the depletion of resources such as air, water and soil. However, providentially, after the Corona virus lockdown commenced, there have been some positive changes in the environment:

Air Quality:

The lesser travelling has led to the pollution in the air dropping significantly, as there was a marked decline in nitrous oxide emission.

Water Quality:

The non-plying of watercrafts on the rivers and waterways, the water has cleared up, with even the unseen Swans and fish appearing where none was ever seen, like in Venice. Even the oceans are recovering and marine life is thriving.

Effect on Wildlife:

The decline in fishing has witnessed the fish biomass; animals have been spotted moving about freely where once they would not dare to go. Even sea turtles have been spotted returning to areas they once avoided to lay their eggs, all due to the lack human interference.

Effect on Vegetation:

Plants are growing better because there is cleaner air and water, and no human interference; with a gross decrease in the release of greenhouse gases, with plants growing and producing more coverage and oxygen. There is lesser clogging of river systems, due to less litter, which is good in the long run for the environment.

In conclusion, Corona virus has embellished us with a small solace though, with the environment smiling back at the humans who had nearly plundered it beyond redemption. Leo Tolstoy, who said, “One of the first conditions of happiness is that the link between man and nature shall not be broken”, must be smiling from his grave with a benign satisfaction at the unannounced arrival of the corona virus.

(This is the first part of the three part series on World Environment Day)

PART - II 

Image: courtesy iberdola.com

World Environment: India’s Concern and Contribution

As deliberated in Part one of the series, India’s inter-relationship with Environment and Nature goes back to the Vedic ages. The progress of India on this front has been timely and fast. Taking initiative from the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, 1972, India incorporated environmental concern in the Cconstitution through the 42nd Amendment in 1976. Environment has become a priority in policy statements, Plans and Strategies; especially after 1980 with the establishment of a full fledged Ministry of Environment and forests. Increasing concern on Environmental Education (EE) in India gained momentum while its importance was recognized by the Government and policy was planned. Subsequently in 1985, the Supreme Court ruled that Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, which guarantees each citizen the “right to life,” necessarily includes the “right to a healthy environment”, thereby requiring mandatory environmental education to fulfill the fundamental duties of citizens to “protect and improve the natural environment,” as set out in India’s Constitution. The Indian Institute of Ecology and Environment(IIEE), New Delhi is in the forfront today to impart education on environment.

Mahatma Gandhi’s seminal work, Hind Swaraj, written a hundred years ago in 1909 fore-warned the dangers the world is facing today in the form of environmental destruction and the threat to the planet. His words, “The Earth has enough resources for our need but not for our greed”, became a clarion call for later environmentalists to launch major movements to protect the environment; such as the Chipko movement led by Chandi Prasad Bhatt and Sunder Lal Bahuguna and the Narmada Bachao Andolan by Baba Amte and Medha Patkar.

Fast tracking to today, let us examine the latest scenario of the environment and India’s perspective.

Graphic: courtesy Yale University, 2018

India is among the bottom five countries on the Environmental Performance Index, 2018(EPI), plummeting 36 points from 141 in 2016, according to a biennial report by Yale and Columbia Universities along with the World Economic Forum.

While India is at the bottom of the list in the environmental health category, it ranks 178 out of 180 as far as air quality is concerned.

Its overall low ranking, 177 among 180 countries, was linked to poor performance in the environment health policy and deaths due to air pollution categories.

The EPI pointed that deaths attributed to ultra-fine PM2.5 pollutants have risen over the past decade and are estimated at 1,640,113 annually in India.

Most concerning Environmental Issues according to Citizens across India as of March 2019

Graphic: courtesy statista

Some India Indices:

• In its report, the environment think-tank, Center for Science and Environment's(CSE) State of India's Environment (SoE) says that on an average, 8.5 out of every 10,000 children in India die before they turn five; while the risk was higher for girls as 9.6 out of 10,000 girls die before five years of age due to bad air.
• Air pollution is responsible for 12.5 per cent of all deaths in India. Its impact on children is equally worrying, as per the CSE report.
• Over 1,00,000 children below the age of five die due to bad air in the country, as said by the CSE report.
• India is facing the worst water crisis in its history, and in a new report from the NITI Aayog, a government think tank, 21 Indian cities will run out of groundwater by 2020, thus highlighting the need for urgent and improved management of water resources.

Major Initiatives taken by India towards Environment Protection:

The first major initiative in the saga of India’s mission for environment protection was the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC), launched in 2008 by the Prime Minister's Council on Climate Change. It aimed at creating awareness among the representatives of the public, different agencies of the government, scientists, industry and the communities on the threat posed by climate change and the steps to counter it.

There were 8 national missions forming the core of the NAPCC which represent multi-pronged, long term and integrated strategies for achieving key goals in climate change. The guiding principles were:

• Protection of poor and vulnerable sections of society through inclusive and sustainable development strategy.
• Achievements of national growth through qualitative changes enhancing ecological sustainability.
• Deployment of appropriate technologies for both adaptation and mitigation of Green House Gases emissions extensively and at an accelerated pace.

Regrettably, India continued to slide in the EPI. There was a perceptible change when Narendra Modi took over as the Prime Minister in 2014 with the launch of many pro-active initiatives and also because of the greater awareness and parallel initiatives launched by the world bodies and various countries; with a looming environment crisis taking the international center-stage.

Let us study some of the major initiatives post-2014, taken up by India:

Namami Gange Programme

After taking over as the Prime Minister of India in 2014, in June that year, Narendra Modi recognising the cultural and environmental importance of the river Ganga, the Namami Gange Programme was approved by the union government. The Centre allocated a total of Rs 20,000 crore to conserve and rejuvenate the river. It involved the people living on the banks of the river, and helped them attain sustainable livelihoods. 

Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act (CAMPA)

The government of India introduced Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act (CAMPA) in 2016. It also established National Compensatory Afforestation Fund and State Compensatory Afforestation Fund the same year. Under this act, any individual or organisation intending to use forest lands for non-forest purposes will be charged.

Green Skill Development Programme

Moving away from technical or industrial skills, the Green Skill Development Programme was launched in June 2017 by the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change. ‘Green skills’ refers to those that contribute to preserve and restore environment and create a sustainable future. Hence, the programme focuses on developing skills among the youth in the environment and forest sector.

Swachh Bharat Abhiyan

The national cleanliness drive - Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, is perhaps the most popular campaign relating to environment that the Modi government pulled off. Earlier, running as a candidate for the Prime Ministership, his clarion call to the youth, ‘Pehle shauchalaya, phir devalaya’ became a popular slogan. Launched on Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary on October 2, 2014, the movement had people coming out to clean the roads across India. Photographs of Modi sweeping the streets became quite a sensation for some time, as he kick-started the first cleanliness drive. It is considered to be the most innovative country-specific environmental drive in the world.

India declared itself "open-defecation free" (ODF) on 2 October 2019, the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, by constructing over 100 million toilets in rural India.

The International Solar Alliance 2018

This initiative was first proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a speech on 30 November 2015 at Wembley Stadium, in which he referred to sunshine countries as Suryaputra ("Sons of the Sun"), with a special emphasis on India. Taking the initiative further, The International Solar Alliance(ISA) held its founding conference in New Delhi, co-chaired by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron on 11 March 2018.

The International Solar Alliance is an international organisation with 79 member countries. It works with governments to improve energy access and security around the world and promote solar power as a sustainable way to transition to a carbon neutral future.

For bringing to fruition the innovative and unique International Solar Alliance PM Narendra Modi was recently granted the UN’s Champions of the Earth Award along with the French President Emmanuel Macron.

India Cooling Action Plan 2019

One of the major milestones in India’s fight against its poor environmental record was taken on 08 Mar 2019, when the Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Dr. Harsh Vardhan released the India Cooling Action Plan (ICAP), in a function in New Delhi, the first such initiative in the world. The India Cooling Action Plan seeks to:

• Reduce cooling refrigerant and energy demand across sectors by 20% to 25% by 2037-38.
• Training and certification of 100,000 servicing sector technicians by 2022-23, synergizing with Skill India Mission.

These actions, besides its significant environmental benefit, will also usher in societal benefits like:

• Doubling farmers’ income, better cold chain infrastructure, better value of produce to farmers, less wastage of produce.
• Skilled workforce for better livelihoods and environmental protection.
• Make in India, domestic manufacturing of air-conditioning and related cooling equipment.
• Robust R&D on alternative cooling technologies to provide push to innovation in cooling sector.

(This is the second part of the three part series on World Environment Day)

PART - III 

World Environment: India’s Future Priorities and a Responsible Citizenry

The young author of the book ‘5 Feet 5 Inch Run Machine – Sachin Tendulkar’, Amit Kalantri wrote, “Finish the work; otherwise an unfinished work will finish you.” In an analogous way, the world is beset with the unfinished work towards environment and it raises a spectred question on our future. If Nature is the art of God, then we all are portraitists with canvases of our own: the government and the citizen alike. To sing in harmony, we have to be synchronous in our responsibilities.

The future approach to the triad aspects of preservation, conservation and protection of the environment cannot be easily wished away only to the government of the day. Instead, we should bring in a two-pronged strategy of Government-Citizen participatory model; wherein besides the institutional initiatives, the common man too is empowered to pro-actively contribute in the ‘not enough’ attitude to our environment today.

The various institutional initiatives taken by the Indian government was enumerated in the Part 2 of this series on World Environment. However, there still remain many grey areas and steps that need to be undertaken and expedited to meet the needs of Nature and environment in all its diversity. Some of these steps are:

1. Air Quality

A portion of the world’s most polluted urban communities are in India. The natives of Delhi and elsewhere are, as of now, experiencing the insufferable effect of poor air quality.  Some urgent steps to impliment are:

• Move from petroleum/diesel to electric vehicles.
• Replace existing cook stoves with clean cook stoves.
• Restrict open burning of biomass and fossil fuels.
• Change to liquid petroleum gas (CNG) and electricity, along with biogas and ethanol as some of the clean energy alternatives.
• Implement the Continuous Emission Monitoring System (CEMS) framework aiming towards efficient enterprises.

2. Water Conservation

A NITI Aayog report alarmingly expresses that 21 Indian urban communities, including Delhi, Bengaluru and Hyderabad are probably going to run out of groundwater by 2020. The government should firmly adopt:

• The policies, strategies and activities made to manage water as a sustainable resource, to protect the water environment, and to meet current and future human demand.
• All enterprises must be made Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) units.
• Adopt large-scale and modern Drip Irrigation Systems (DIS).
• Prevent the untreated effluents from entering our water bodies.
• Formulate laws towards equi-distribution of water at the national and local levels.
• Implement the National River Linking Project (NRLP) at the earliest.

3. Waste Management

India produces more than 1.50 lakh metric tonne(MT)of solid waste every day, of which 90 per cent is collected waste. Waste pickers make a significant contribution to this collection. There remains a significant scope for better collection, recycling and disposal of waste.  Some of the immediate concerns are:

• Rapidly manufacture industrial equipment for the disposal of the ever increasing electronic, plastic, biomedical and other hazardous wastes, especially through the ‘Made in India’ banner.
• Rapidly implement the cleanliness of the cities through the ‘Smart City’ and ‘Cleanest City’ initiatives.
• Implement a national-level single-use plastic mechanism and fund recycling research.
• Greater research on the alternate uses of recyclable and disposable material.
• Find ways and means to rehabilitate and recognize the waste pickers, as an essential service.
• Mechanise waste collection.

4. Wildlife and Biodiversity

The Biological Diversity Act, 2002 was aimed at the preservation of biological diversity in India, with mechanism for the equitable sharing of benefits arising out of the use of traditional biological resources and knowledge. However, many of its objectives remain unfulfilled. Some of the immediate concerns are:

• Bring in transparency in the inter-state relationships and cross flow of information.
• Bring in methods/laws to better regulate National Parks, Sanctuaries, Conservation Reserves and Community Reserves all over the country covering the important habitats as per the provisions of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 to provide better protection to wildlife, including threatened species and their habitat.
• Strict action against the poachers, timber mafias through local people’s involvement, including ethnic tribes.
• Increase biodiversity vigilante groups and empower them.
• Develop a national environment intelligence team to monitor the exploiters of Flora and Fauna. Cases like the international wildlife trader, Sansar Chand, must be rooted out.
• Increase awareness amongst the citizens on care of the Wildlife and Forests. The recent heart-wrenching case from Kerala wherein a pregnant elephant died due to miscreants feeding it with explosive-laden pineapples is a moot point not to be repeated.

What can us as Citizens Do?

The distinguished environmentalist Vandana Shiva, writing in the Times of India on June 6, 2020 says, “We are literally consuming the Earth and our future. We have separated ourselves from the well-being of our planet, fragmented Earth into parts, each to be mined as material for industrial processing, creating only ever-growing waste and pollution.”

Due to the change in our lifestyles and our ever increasing crave for consumption, a faulty developmental model and the self-centered existence at the citizens level; has only deteriorated the condition of the environment. The cause of the emerging scourge of diseases like SARS, MERS, Zika, Ebola and the latest pandemic COVID-19 are attributable to the failing relationship between man and Nature. We humans have alarmingly assumed ourselves to be a superior species, separate from other beings and have forgotten our little share of return to Nature what Nature gave us. The wise philosopher Socrates said, “He is richest who is content with the least, for content is the wealth of Nature.”

On this World Environment Day 2020, let us look at some of the ways in which we as citizens can contribute towards protecting the environment.

• Ceaseless Consuming: We should reduce our greed and wean ourselves away from the consumerist culture that is dominating our lives; be it in clothes, in food, in energy, in the natural resources like water and the like. Let us keep as much as our body and needs need and not take to a ‘throw-away and waste-away culture’.
• Protecting the forests and wildlife: The Angami tribe of Nagaland gave up their ancient tradition of hunting to protect wildlife to create a more stable ecosystem for future generations. The Dongria Kondhs in Odisha fought to protect their sacred Niyamgiri Hills from mining giant Vedanta Resources. The religious belief of the Bishnois in Rajasthan to possessively protect, nurture and grow the flora and fauna of their place is indeed a unique example in the world. These examples should inspire us to follow suit as responsible citizens.
• Planting more trees: Let us emulate the Gond tribes of Maharashtra, who worship and protect the trees with a vengeance. Or better still; follow the footsteps of Jadav Payeng, known as the Forest Man of India, who spent 30 years of his life planting trees to save his island. Let us imbibe the culture of ‘one man one tree’.
• Garbage Cleaning: Let us take the extraordinary example of Afroz Shah, a 33 year-old lawyer turned environmentalist of Mumbai, who is known across the world as the man who kick-started world's biggest garbage clean-up project at Versova beach near Mumbai. He nearly single-handedly cleared more than 20 million kilos of garbage in over 160 weeks. His dedication and perseverance teaches us to shun litter and take stock of garbage.  
• Reduce energy consumption: Practicing these good habits will not just reduce electricity consumption, but also save money and distribute the energy: unplug appliances when not using them, make sure your appliances are energy efficient, install LED lights, seal-up any gaps in the windows and doors to retain cooling, turn down your thermostat of the water heater, insulate your home better and reduce water consumption.
• Adopt public transport: As we all know more and more cars on the roads add up to pollution, it is in our own interest to adopt the use of public transport and shun private vehicles for commuting, as much as possible. Disbelief in the belief that owning a car is a status symbol. Car-pooling is another option.
• Rainwater Harvesting: The careless use of precious resources like water has created a huge water crisis in India. We should start saving the water and make arrangements in our houses for rainwater harvesting.

To conclude, the environment encompassing Nature and Biodiversity, its upkeep and nurture, should form the sum-total of our very first reason of existence as a superior species. God has ordained us with a belief to be the reflection of his image in our limited stay on Earth. If we believe to join him, in our passage beyond, as is the desire of every human being, then we ought to leave behind a legacy for without man there cannot be another man in making.Let us not forget that the Earth can live without us Humans and the reverse is a never mentioned falsehood.

(This is the third and concluding part on World Environment Day)

(These series of Articles appeared earlier in OdishaBytes.com)

Debi Padhi was born in the city of Cuttack, India. A retired naval aviator, with a Masters in English Literature and a Masters in Journalism and Mass Communications; has a passion for the creative arts and is a freelance writer on varied subjects that have been published widely. He, along with his wife are running an organization that counsels and empowers the youth to exploit their full potential.

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