By Dr Chandra Pal Singh Yadav
The World Environment Day is celebrated on 5th June every year since 1974. It is an important day towards environmental action involving all sections of society to focus their efforts on pressing environmental issues.
This day is meant for spreading awareness about the Environment and its effect on the day to day life of the people particularly the air we breathe, water we drink and the food we eat.
The day has become a vital platform for promoting the environmental dimension of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The theme of this year’s World Environment Day is ‘Biodiversity’ i.e. the variety of life on Earth. It is generally said that more than 40% of the world’s economy and 80% needs of the poor are derived from biological resources.
The richer the diversity of life the greater the opportunity for medical discoveries, economic development as well as adaptive responses to mitigate the challenges of climate change.
An appropriate conservation and sustainable development strategy is the need of the hour in preserving biodiversity.
The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the fact that we destroyed biodiversity and the system that supports human life. However, it provides us an opportunity to revisit our relationship with nature and rebuild a more environmentally responsible world.
Indian Cooperative Movement being the largest cooperative movement of the world plays an important role in restoring biodiversity.
Every year on this day, Cooperative Institutions and their members are engaged in plantation work on a large scale.
I, on behalf of National Cooperative Union of India, urge the Co-operators to come forward and take all possible steps to educate and motivate members to dedicate themselves towards rebuilding the nation and conserving the ecosystem.
On World Environment Day, I appeal to my fellow countrymen to fulfil the responsibility to nurture the mother earth and conserve natural resources by making life simple, not too demanding, as well as optimum use of the resources.
Educating yourself to educate others is the Motto to preserve biodiversity.