Time spent among trees and the environment is never wasted! Its only with healthy ecosystems that we can enhance people’s livelihoods, counter climate change and arrest the process of biodiversity loss. Nature offers benefits for all the species on this planet- from animals to humans; from the food we eat to the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the climate that makes our planet habitable, all comes from nature itself. Each year, marine plants produce more than half of our atmospheric oxygen, whereas a mature tree cleans our air, absorbing 22 kilos of carbon dioxide, releasing oxygen in exchange. Despite all that, we the humans mistreat our environment.
It is against this background that the observance of World Environment Day assumes significance as it offers mankind the opportunity to renew its commitment and obligation towards maintaining a healthy and sustainable planet. World Environment Day offers a global platform for inspiring positive changes in the environment pushing individuals to think about the way they consume the natural resources and ecosystem services notwithstanding an opportunity to mend their fences and strive for a greener future.
At the 1972 Stockholm Conference on Human Environment, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) decided to observe World Environment Day every year. Two years later, in 1974, the first World Environment Day (WED) was held with the theme ‘Only One Earth’. And then in 1987, the UN came up with the idea of rotating the host country for the celebrations of this day.
World Environment Day, 2021
The theme for this year’s World Environment Day celebration is ‘Ecosystem Restoration’. The day to be observed by millions of people in 143 countries digitally is being hosted by Pakistan in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The event will also see the launch of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. This is a ”10-year initiative to halt and reverse the decline of the natural world.” Since the pandemic disrupted normal lives, the most important thing that will perhaps have a very far-reaching impact is the breakdown in the “relationship between human and natural systems.” The UNEP’s campaign – “Recreate, Reimagine, Restore” – focuses on reversing the degradation of our ecosystems. The UN Decade runs from 2021 till 2030, which is also the deadline for the Sustainable Development Goals (2015-2030) and the timeline scientists have identified as the last chance to prevent catastrophic climate change.
What is ecosystem restoration?
“Once we restore, we are no longer retreating, trying only to slow the wave of destruction. We begin to actually advance, to regain lost ground. Can we really do it, or is the idea only human arrogance rearing its head one more time?. ..The short answer is: yes, we can really do it – to some degree. At worst we can produce something that mimics the real thing and that, given enough time, could become the real thing” . . . John P. Wiley, Jr., 1989
Ecosystem restoration means preventing, halting, and reversing the damage caused by human activities and finally healing our nature. Ecosystem restoration assists in the recovery of ecosystems that have been degraded or destroyed in the past years, as well as conserving the ecosystems that are still intact. Healthier ecosystems, with richer biodiversity, yield greater benefits, such as more fertile soils, bigger yields of timber and fish, and larger stores of greenhouse gases.
Ecological restoration is a means of sustaining the diversity of life on Earth and re-establishing an ecologically healthy relationship between nature and culture. Ecological restoration is the process of recreating to the extent possible the structure, function, and integrity of indigenous ecosystem and the sustaining habitats that they provide.
It is realised that unless something is done to reverse the deterioration of ecosystem health, current and future generations will continue to incur increasing costs while simultaneously enjoying fewer benefits from public lands. Of particular concern is the cumulative effect of ecosystem simplification such that ecosystems are at risk of catastrophic losses of biological diversity and human habitats (Myers 1984).
Restoration and maintenance of ecosystem health is seen as central to ecosystem management nowadays. Restoration of ecosystem health is, in fact, an international theme. The United Nations recognized ecosystem restoration as a central concern in the Rio Declaration (Earth Summit,1992) on Environment and Development in Principle 7 which declares that “States shall cooperate in a spirit of global partnership to conserve, protect and restore the health and integrity of the Earth’s ecosystems.” The principle of restoration is based on (1)identifying the species,(2) putting a stop to further abuse by reducing factors,(3) reintroduce the native species, and (4) protecting the area from further degradation.
Ecosystem degradation
Environment can be degraded due to increased urbanisation, industrialization, population increase, unsustainable land use, sewage, water run-off, eutrophication , fragmentation and loss of habitat, biodiversity loss, low crop genetic diversity, pollution and climate change notwithstanding natural calamities like volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, cyclones, tsunamis, floods, epidemics even pandemics.
Degradation may result from harmful policies such as subsidies for intensive farming or weak tenure laws that encourage deforestation. Lakes and coastlines can become polluted because of poor waste management or an industrial accident. Commercial pressures can leave towns and cities with too much asphalt and too few green spaces.
Half of the World’s tropical forests and wetlands have been destroyed since 1960. UNEP and FAO estimated the rate of deforestation during 2015-2020 at 10 million hectares/year compared to 16 million hectares/year in 1990. UNEP and FAO reported a decline in global forest area from 32.8% to 30.8% last year. In India, 96.4 million hectares (29.32% of total GA) of land became degraded in 2011-13. Degradation causes a reduction in food productivity, soil fertility, man-animal conflict and deforestation. India has committed itself to rehabilitating 26 million hectares of degraded land by 2030.Implementation of National Afforestation programme and Green India Mission has helped India to increase its forest cover to 21.67% (ISFR,2019). Use of organic manure, fertilisers, indigenous seeds can help revive soil fertility and ecosystem health. Effective waste management and green house gas emissions from agricultural activities can save terrestrial bodies from being degraded.
Rivers used for drinking, food, irrigation, electric power generation, shipping, fishing, coastal area expansion, tourism, recreation, water transport have deteriorated in quality and quantity due to mindless pollution, disposal of sewage, toxic or harmful effluents, plastics etc in to it. More than 8 million tons of plastics end up in the ocean every year. At this rate, there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050. Effective treatment of domestic and industrial sewage, controlled fishing, designated area for shipping, prohibition on dumping and defaecation can go a long way in ensuring greater availability of this scarce fresh water resource. Some initiatives like Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan, Jal Jeevan Mission, Swachh Bharat Mission , Namami Gange, Clean Jamuna have contributed to improving the scenario.
Biodiversity loss has been taking place at alarming rate all over the world. IUCN Red List( 2019) records 132 plant and animal species as being critically endangered in India out of which 48 belong to the plant kingdom. Destruction of forests and wild life habitats have contributed to their dwindling population. Nepenthes khasiana is a critically endangered plant species while Sunderban gets recognised as critically endangered habitat. Bringing in more areas under protected areas (981 at present) including sanctuaries and national parks, wetlands (42 at present) have helped in the conservation of biodiversity not to speak of an incremental population of Tigers and Elephant etc.
A transformational shift to clean and green renewable energy can help us clean up our environment.
The Need
Ecosystem degradation is one of the biggest environmental threats arising as a result of various developmental, social and anthropogenic factors impacting biodiversity and ecosystem services. This has resulted in poorer habitats for wildlife, increased human-animal conflict, impairment of water security and protection against natural disasters, higher risk of species’ extinction, lower carbon sequestration, etc. While degradation of freshwater and marine ecosystems is equally serious.
The Opportunity
Ecological restoration offers scope for large-scale recovery of damaged natural systems. It presents a huge opportunity to improve biodiversity, human lives, restore precious habitats for wild flora and fauna . Importantly, restoration provides the potential for generating rural livelihoods based on activities aimed at building ecological resilience, thus making local communities active partners in the overall conservation effort contributing to even GDP. This can help us move closer to fulfilling SDG targets.
Restoration and climate change
Restoration can remove up to 26 gigatons of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. But this has to be done cautiously without sacrificing the basic principle of restoration. Increasing canopy cover is an urgent priority. Otherwise it can affect biodiversity, and lead to the alteration of many unique ecosystems like arid, semi-arid and scrub forests threatening the flora and fauna. Policies and restoration methodologies have to be designed keeping ecological priorities in mind. In fact, empirical evidence shows that natural ecosystems are more effective at meeting the twin objectives of climate change and ecosystem services, and also markedly more sustainable.
Challenges in the Indian context
Some of the challenges in restoring degraded ecosystems is the lack of trained restoration professional, lack of any scientific standards to ensure consistency in approach and methodology besides funding. A typical restoration project lasts well over 6 years, and this raises the challenge of sustaining projects for such long periods. Concerned government departments can partner with restoration agencies having relevant qualifications and experience to address this issue.
(The author is an Associate Professor, Department of Environment & Traditional Ecosystems, Martin Luther Christian University)
