Editorial: Shrinking biodiversity

Given the extent of human tinkering with Nature, the situation may soon come to such a pass that we will have to make a choice between existence and extinction. The consequences of the damage caused by human activities like deforestation, pollution, overfishing and development are already being felt. The death of over seven million people […]

Given the extent of human tinkering with Nature, the situation may soon come to such a pass that we will have to make a choice between existence and extinction. The consequences of the damage caused by human activities like deforestation, pollution, overfishing and development are already being felt. The death of over seven million people every year due to air pollution, rapid disappearance of forests and over one million species being at the risk of extinction are some of the ominous signals that humans can ignore at their own peril. The World Wide Fund for Nature’s (WWF) latest report ”Living Planet Report-2022” comes as an urgent wake-up call. It has shown a massive 69% decline in wildlife populations across the globe during the 1970-2018 period. This staggering rate of downfall is yet another reaffirmation of the fact that our planet is in the throes of a biodiversity crisis. At the same time, this acute disruption in the ecosystem should prompt the world for taking a renewed pledge to redouble efforts for arresting the downward spiral and preventing the endangered species from going extinct. It is crucial for the survival of all forms of life on Earth. There is no doubt that rampant overexploitation of the limited natural resources over the past 50 years by humans — in the name of development — is the main driver of this humongous loss. India too has contributed to this dismal state of affairs. The WWF report has pointed out that over 137 km of the Sundarbans mangrove forest have been eroded since 1985.

Climate change in India impacts key areas like water resources, agriculture, natural ecosystems, health and the food chain. The country’s rivers are among 73% of the over 1,000-km-long rivers of the globe that are no longer free-flowing and, thus, raise the risk of migration of fish. It is clear that the nations have failed to make sufficient progress in switching to a sustainable mode of living designed to halt the catastrophic slide. The relentless strain on the flora and fauna and their habitats in pursuit of short-term goals and polluting industrialisation has pushed the people dependent on agriculture, fishing and forestry to the brink. This has jeopardised the other aim which is crucial to protecting biodiversity: that of reducing carbon emissions to limit global warming to 1.5°C. The rising temperature spells doom, with the climate change-induced extreme weather events likely to become the dominant cause of biodiversity loss in the coming decades. Policymakers must step up conservation efforts to mitigate the crisis before it is too late. It is time we pay heed to our surroundings and work to build a better planet. It is not just the nations that need to frame appropriate policies to check environmental degradation but the citizens too will have to take a pledge to protect their environment.