We, humans, are more dependent on Mother Nature than nature depends on us, or may I say! Not at all depend on us and this is quite evident from the current pandemic situation. As we all have witnessed the earth doesn’t need us, it can survive without the interference of humans. We are the one who is destroying it by polluting the air, water, by wasting natural resources, landfilling by hazardous materials. One of the major concerns is shattering down trees for industrial developments. Deforestation is a major concern…
According to Global Forest watch, from 2001 to 2020, India lost 354kha of humid forest which adds 19% of its total tree cover loss in the same period. During 2001-2020, India lost 1.93Mha of tree cover, of which the top five regions – Assam, Mizoram, Nagaland, Manipur, and Arunachal Pradesh accounted for 60% tree cover loss. Furthermore, Assam had the most tree cover loss at 269kha in the same period compared to an average of 55.2kha.
Research published by Nature Ecology & Evolution shows that between 2001- 2015, UK was net deforested 1574km2 an area equivalent to the Greater Landon.
Let’s see what the global leaders are doing to restore these damages:
On 13th June 2021, at the G7 Leaders’ summit in Cornwall UK, countries have come together and agreed on a “G7 2030 Nature Compact”. In this summit, seven leading countries will help and commit to tackling deforestation by supporting a sustainable supply chain that decouples agricultural production from deforestation and forest degradation. They will also encourage all Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs), International Finance Institutions, and Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) to embed nature into their analysis, policy dialogue, and operations.
In the United Nations General Assembly 2020, PM Narendra Modi stated that India which holds the current presidency of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), with this initiative, India would create a carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. He also added that India is to apply a scientific approach to combat land degradation and is on track to restore 26 million hectares of degraded land to achieve land degradation neutrality, by 2030. In India over the last 10 years, around 3 million hectares of forest cover have been added, enhancing the combined forest cover at almost one-fourth of the country’s total.
When the governments, global leaders, intuitions all are taking initiative to restore our planet why would the Indian Army leave behind? Indian army under the “Go Green” initiative has planted more trees to support and preserve the natural environment in district Poonch in Jammu and Kashmir. “As a part of this initiative, awareness lecture is being conducted for villagers to familiarize them on importance of tree and benefits of keeping environment green”, said Lt Col Devendra Aanand.
Google celebrated “Earth Day” by creating a video doodle that shows spreading awareness on the importance of trees on our planet. The planet we call home continues to nurture life and inspire wonders. Our environment works hard to sustain us, which calls for us to return the favor. “Today’s video Doodle shows a variety of trees being planted within natural habitats, one of the many ways we can do our part to keep our earth healthy for the future generation]” quoted by Google alongside the doodle.
Forest is an invaluable resource that is subjected to many threats, whether it is for industrial development, economic development, we are cutting down trees for our greed. We cannot develop without trees they are the main sources of our living existence.
Let’s plant trees every day and teach our kids the importance of Mother Nature.