Director Natural Capital at Earthbanc in Stockholm, Sweden and former Environmental Economist at the World Bank in Washington DC, USA Dr. Bremley Wanbantei Blah Lyngdoh today stated that it is not about just those hundred-year-old pine trees at Upper Shillong that are being felled but the whole state has been depleted because of rampant mining, destruction of the life supporting ecosystems, watershed, springs and coke factories choking our people with poisonous fumes everywhere.
Sending a message to the citizens of the state including Chief Minister Conrad Sangma and Forest and Environment Minister James Sangma, Lyngdoh from London said, “We just commemorated World Environment Day asking everyone to restore the balance on earth and we must practice what we preach. The planet is in pain and mother earth is crying right now so as concerned global citizens we should do our part by not just fighting for the hundred-year-old pine trees at Upper Shillong but to look at achieving those 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations not only in Meghalaya, India but the whole world. We need to think as global citizens.”
Informing that he had invited Conrad Sangma in the meeting held at the Initiatives of Change HQ at the Caux palace in Switzerland two years ago to talk about land and security in the context of climate change, he said that this has become even more relevant because we have got 10 years left to prevent runaway climate or irreversible climate change.
“Temperatures will rise to 2 degrees centigrade in the next 10-15 years and our glaciers are already melting in the Himalayas releasing crazy weird pathogens into our water and food systems and if these reach our human bodies through birds and animals we will be in big trouble. If we don’t take action now to protect our fragile life-supporting ecosystems globally,” he told Highland Post.
Stating that each voter and citizen is duty-bound to protect your state and the ecosystem, he said, “We must protect and plant millions more trees across the state and reward the young people and farmers who are protecting our ecosystem and practicing organic and regenerative farming.”
