It is our rich, though dwindling biodiversity that gives us potential solutions to our sustainability challenges.
It is our rich, though dwindling biodiversity that gives us potential solutions to our sustainability challenges.
International Day of Biodiversity was celebrated on 22 May. It gave us the opportunity to appreciate the wonder of biodiversity and to renew our commitment to nurture and protect all the forms of life with which we share our planet. We are a nation so defined by the richness of life around us that the words ‘diversity’ and ‘India’ have become synonymous. Our ethnic, cultural and linguistic diversity has been greatly influenced by the unique characteristics of our land, climate and geography, as well as the forces of migration and development. These forces have enriched our land with many species of plants, animals and other organisms.
We, the human species, are an integral and influential component of biodiversity. Our own bodies host tiny living micro-organisms without which we cannot survive. Our cultures shape the biodiversity around us, and biodiversity shapes our cultures and our future on Earth.
Apart from the pandemic, the recent heat waves across much of North India and floods in Meghalaya are reminders of bad climate change and an uncertain future. Uncertainty has been exacerbated by continued degradation of land and biodiversity, increasing malnutrition and hunger, and inequalities and environmental injustices.
nature based solutions
Yet, it is our rich, though dwindling biodiversity, that provides us with potential solutions to our most pressing sustainability challenges. Nature-based solutions – harnessing biodiversity and what we learn from the natural world to meet our challenges – are emerging as the best way forward.
Climate change is arguably the most serious crisis we face today. Global deforestation is one of the main contributors to climate change. Thus, deforestation and restoration of other degraded lands can lead to mitigation of climate change. Restoring biodiversity on large tracts of land is one of the major commitments made by India under the Paris Agreement. This direct link between biodiversity and climate change was confirmed by most countries at the Conference of the Parties in Glasgow held six months ago. Similarly, rejuvenating our soil and agriculture, eradicating hunger and improving nutrition depend on our judicious use of biodiversity in existing agricultural systems. Promoting the return of biodiversity to degraded lands and increasing blue carbon in the oceans has enormous environmental and considerable economic benefits. Restoration has the potential to create millions of jobs, diversify farming systems, and farm-based livelihoods.
There is huge untapped potential in India’s biodiversity based enterprises. For example, the sector based on the use of molecules of biological origin in biotechnology and health care was worth $70 billion in 2020. And we have barely begun to tap the potential of our rich medical heritage that includes thousands of medicinal plant species.
Nature not only contributes to our economic and physical well-being, but also contributes to our mental and spiritual prosperity. Our country is full of sacred landscapes, river views and sea views. For mental peace, we can take refuge in nature.
Strengthening Biodiversity Science
The biodiversity around and within us that sustains and protects us is under attack. We have seen our natural landscapes and waterfalls shrink and deteriorate at an unprecedented rate. Last year, in these pages, I briefly described an effort on the part of the government to launch a National Mission on Biodiversity and Human Welfare, which was envisioned and planned for biodiversity collaboration by pulling together public and private institutions. was done. The mission will include biodiversity as an important consideration in all development programmes, especially in the areas of agriculture, health, bio-economy, ecosystem services and climate change mitigation. It will also seek to develop a system to assess and monitor, restore and enhance biodiversity to enable the achievement of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Public engagement is another key element of the mission.
The pandemic has placed this mission among the most important national initiatives. We must urgently address the issues highlighted by COVID 19: the emergence of infectious diseases; Inadequate food and nutritional security; rural unemployment; and climate change, all of which place additional pressures on nature and public health, and which the mission seeks to address.
Read also | 6 Biodiversity Hotspots of India
Hundreds of professionals have participated in defining the road map of the mission. International Day of Biodiversity should serve as a reminder to our government and people to pursue the mission and re-imagine our relationship with nature.
Kamal Bawa is the chairman of the Bangalore-based Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) and the coordinator of the Biodiversity Collaboration. thoughts are personal