Page 56, THISDAY, Vol. 16. No. 5888
Tuesday, June 7, 20 11
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NVI '0 ME
World EnvironmentD~y Celebrates Forests
umnl1 i' V is uSIng this year 's World Environmen t D,lV, wliich cele6rat ion s tarted a l the weekend to s tress the benefils of forests to nation a l and wo rld economy. The th eme of World
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Environment Ihis year is, "ForesJ,s: Nature at Your Serv lC\!~. and it emphas;z('S the m ulti-trillion dollar va lue of these and other ecosystems to society. esp~;all y tht' poor, saId the United Nation 's SecretaryGene ral Bnn Ki路moon in his message on World Erllliro',ment Day o n Sunday.June 5, 20拢1 . World En v ironment Day (WED) is an ann u a l event th at is aimed a t being the bigge'5! and most widel}' celebra ted global day rOT positive ellvil'o nmcnta l action . India is the g lo bal hos t o f World EnvilOnment OilY in 20 11_ WED Iu: tivities ta ke place a ll year round bu t clima x on J une 5 e\-eq' year. in\'olvrng everyon e from everywhere, WED celebra tion be~an in 1972 and h as g rown to beconle one of the main ve h icles through which the UN s ti mulates wo rld wide awareness o f tne en\,ironmen t and encou rages po litical a llen tion and actio n, Through WED, the UN En viron me nt Programme is ab le to personali ze environmental issues and e nable everyone to realize not on ly their respons ibility, but also their power to become agents fo r c hange in support o f susta inable and equitable develormen l. WED IS also a da y for people from all wa lks 0 life to come togethe r to ensu~ il cleane r, g reener il nd brighter o u tlook for the mselves and future ge nerations, The UN Secreta ry General sa id, neMly 20 years a fl er the 1992 E..llth Summit, the wo rld is once aga in on the roa d to Rio, th e s ile o f the June 201 2 UN Conference o n Sustainable De\'e lopmenl, H e said much has chilnged in the past two decades, geopolitica lly and e n vironmentally. HHundreds of mi llio ns of people in Asia, L.,tin America - and, increasingly, in A fri ca - have risen from poverty, Yet, evidence IS also accumula tin g of profound and potentia ll y irreversible changes in the ab ility of the p lane t to suslai n o ur progress_ H
By (Jennett Og"ifo
Service' "!peaks to the intrinsic connection betwee n Ji"el ihoods and human well-being and the health of forests an d forest ecosystems. Th is year, he said marks a first for the lo ng-standing relationship between India and the United N"lions. Fo r the firs t time ever India will host World EnvirolUnent Day (WED). -With a pupulation uf 1.2 billion people, a rapidly g rowi ng economy and II ' diverse cul tu ra l past, p resent a nd future therl' is enormoltS potential for Ind ia to catalyze and to champion sus tainable de\'elopment nation1'l1ly and internationally," Ste inl'c said India has shown ll'ad~ rs hi p by. for e'o:ample, by instituting a tree--planti ng system to combat la nd-deg rada tion and desert ifica tion, mciuding windbreaks and shel terbelts to protect ilgriculluraJ land, Hlnrlia has successfull y introd uced projects that trac k the hea lth of the nation's plilllis, anim" is, water and other natura l rl'so u rces inciud ill6 the Sunderbansthe largest d eltaic mangrove forest 10 the world , and home 10 one o f India's most iconic wildl ife species. the tige r. H Mean w hile the coun try is increasingly al the forefront o ( some o f the 'green sh oots' o f a Green Economy tha t are emergi ng across the g lobe. From its ma n ufactu ring of solar an d w ind turbines to its Rura l Emplo yml'llt G uarantee Act w h ich underw rites paid work fo r millions of ho usehold s via investmen ts '" areas ranging from wate r ronsen 'ation to sustainable land management, foundatio ns a re being lai d in Ind ia lo wa rds II Fundamental and far reaching new de velopment pa th, UNEP's recent "'po rt, A Tra ns itio n to a Green Economy: Pathways 10 Sustainable Development and Poverty Eradication unde rlines tha t s uch a transition not only possible but relevant 10 d eveloping na tions as it is to devl' lopcd ones. H
Rapid econom ic g rowth h as come with costs tha t tradit ionally rarely' feature in nationa l acco unting. he said . "These range from atmospheriC a nd wa ter pollution to degraded fishe ries and forests. a ll of which impact prosperity an d huma n we ll-being," Despite growin g global awareness of the d angers o f environmental decline, including cl imate chanse. biodiversity loss ' and deser tificat io n, progress since the Earth Summit has been 100 s low, We w ill nO I'build a just and equitable world unlc5.5 we give equal we igh t to all three pillars of s usta inable d evelopment. soci" I, econo mic a nd en\路iro nme n tal, To sustainably reduce pO\'er ty, g uarantee food a nd nu tri tion security and prOVIde ceecn l empluyl11clll fo r growing popU la tions, we nlust ma ke the m ost in telligent lise o f o u r natu ra l carita!. India, the g lobal hos l of World Environment Day in 2011 , is a mo ng a growing number o f countries working 10 address the pressu res of ecologica l change. It is also he lp ing to pioneer a beller assessmen t o f Ifle econo m ic va lue of nat ure-based services, w ith the (lss!s!ance o f the Uoilcd Nations Environmen t Progrll mme and the World Ba nk. Ind ia's Rural Employment Act and Ihe cou n try's e ncoura gement of renewable e nergy are Significan t exalnples of how 10 scale u p green growth and accelerate the transition to a green econ om y, he said , " No s ing le day ca n trans form d e\'elopment onto Oil. s us ta inab le path. But o n the road to Rio +20, this year's World En vironment Day can send a message that those w ith influence in go vernme nt and the priva te secto r can - and mus t - ta ke the nece5Sil ry s teps that will fulfill the p ro mise o f the Earth Su mmIt. The g lobal public i~ wa tChing. and expects nothing less." The UN Under-Secre tary General and UNEP ElI:ecu live Director, Achi m Steiner in h is message said this year's WED theme is 'Fo rests: Nature at Your H