Time For Nature – World Environment Day
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. To take notice. To raise our voices.
It’s time to build back better for People and Planet.
This World Environment Day, it’s Time for Nature.
Today is World Environment Day, so why not learn about how all living things on Earth are connected in the web of life and how we can act #ForNature.
World Environment Day is the most renowned day for environmental action. Since 1974 it has been celebrated every year on 5 June – engaging governments, businesses, celebrities and citizens to focus their efforts on a pressing environmental issue.
This year’s theme is biodiversity — a call to action to combat the accelerating species loss and degradation of the natural world. One million plant and animal species risk extinction, largely due to human activities. Hosted by Colombia, in partnership with Germany, World Environment Day urges us to rethink how our economic systems have evolved and the impact they have on the environment. These are issues the world cannot lose sight of even as we tackle the corona virus pandemic and the ongoing climate crisis. Colombia has one of the highest diversities of species in the world, boasting among many others, 3500 types of orchids and 19 per cent of the world’s bird types and their government has made biodiversity preservation a national priority.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, many of us are staying indoors but digital platforms provide a great opportunity to act #ForNature. You can register your sustainability initiative – a kitchen garden, an online lesson on biodiversity and the wonders of nature, or a different idea which will be featured on the global map.
To find out more visit the World Environment Day website where you can explore nature around iconic spots and find out how you can join in. You can join in online events, watch live feeds, register your event and see what others are doing around the world in their stories, news and tips.
Biodiversity
Biodiversity is the foundation that supports all life on land and below water. It affects every aspect of human health, providing clean air and water, nutritious foods, scientific understanding and medicine sources, natural disease resistance, and climate change mitigation. Changing, or removing one element of this web affects the entire life system and can produce negative consequences.
Human actions, including deforestation, encroachment on wildlife habitats, intensified agriculture, and acceleration of climate change, have pushed nature beyond its limit. It would take 1.6 Earths to meet the demands that humans make of nature each year. If we continue on this path, biodiversity loss will have severe implications for humanity, including the collapse of food and health systems.
The emergence of COVID-19 has underscored the fact that, when we destroy biodiversity, we destroy the system that supports human life. Today, it is estimated that, globally, about one billion cases of illness and millions of deaths occur every year from diseases caused by coronaviruses; and about 75 per cent of all emerging infectious diseases in humans are zoonotic, meaning that they are transmitted to people by animals.
Nature is sending us a message.
Illegal wildlife trade has many negative consequences for human well being and species conservation, when criminal actors trade in endangered species they weaken entire ecosystems and they threaten essential links of the world’s biological diversity. Biodiversity loss, one of the greatest global threats in our time, also means a narrower genetic pool and therefore less resilience to resist diseases of any kind.