1. Home
2. Opinion

Save the forests; save the planet

Young Bites. Dated: 1/9/2018 11:41:46 AM

G. L Khajuria
Forest is a peculiar organism of unlimited kindness and benevolence that makes no demands for its sustenance. It offers even shade to the axe man who fells its down…” Lord Budha
Though strange it may sound yet true thata tree produces around 260 pounds of oxygen in a year and absorbs as much of carbon dioxide produced by multihued pollutants including those abnoxious gases emitted out by the multitudes of vehicles which round over the roadways covering about 28000 miles. Astonishingly 15.5 billion trees are cut down round the year. And around half acres of foress is chopped off every second. If so stays the situation, the fate of the planet we most reverentially nomenclatures as mother earth can be well estimated.
Man’s undimishing demands for greater greed’s have bred affiliation beyond limitations and have unambiguously off-shooted loot and plunder of all hues thereby over burdening the only bio-sustaining planet earth.
With ever-escalating population and the scientific revolution have in unison havoc and ultimate death of nature to the marginal extend. The mechanical framework clubbed with capitalist paradigm is sniffing out life from each and every part of our system. The more our economy grows, the more our nature is to pu to danger setting aside rules, laws and limits of mother earth.
We pollute our pious rivers, wetlands and water bodies, we chope down trees for the sake of developments highways flyovers, railways, tunneling and holing in the planet earth for minerals and energy explorations. We pump pollution into the air thus making it abnoxious and unhealthy of inhaling thus providing a congenial ground for a multihued diseases such as respiratory track infections (RTI) and its allied.
We have bulldozed her frazile crust for farming and concrete housing and malls, the rivers are desertifying, water bodies are rapidly depleting leading to climatic chaos and confusion. This is what else than mans worst inheritance for killing the mother nature and the environment that surrounds is. All these factors in unison are in a way leading us to environmental holocaust or death knell, signal.
The mother earth and its biosphere is, doubtlessly, a sphere of living organisms or so to say biological processes lying at the interface between the atmosphere, lithosphere and the hydrosphere. The estimate reveal that 3.5 lakhs plant species including algas, fungi, mosses, liches ranging from unicellular protozoan, other animals upto man sustain over this spaceship. And it is the biosphere which supplements their sustainability in respect of light, heat, food water and their alliedes, apart from living space.
The air and water, the plants and planktons, the soil and its ingredients are the life leasing systems which are intristrinctly and incipiently interlinked together and with a slight disturbance or obliteration shall off-shoot catastrophic consequences. Water, which virtually is the essence of the planet earth, the plants and human life are as well essence of wwater and this seminal environmental wisdom which very well has been reflected in our chandogyaupanished over the millionia which has stood on its head in modern India of current century not on gainbowl but a dustbowl.
With the dawn of independence, it was enunciated in Indian Forest Policy 1952 that India should have 33% forest cover but it is a matter of pity that os now our 50% forest cover has lost, 40% mangrove and 40% of species have become extinct- “ The final technical report of National diversity strategy and action n plan”2005 and amongst these cheetah and pink headed duck have completely become extinct. Such is the sad story and scenario of the present day and if so stays the situation, our country rather sub-continent shall face the savage of ecological havoc or collapse which is enveloping it like a ominous shroud. The mother earth provides sole home to all biolife and it is considered as a solid, rigid mass with dense core of magnetic field and is the only planet having water air encompassing oceans seas cavas, mountains, desert peninsula, islands, rivers lakes and other water bodies.These are natural gifts provided by the nature to man in a variety of ways. Mother earth was and is same whereas population is heading at sputnik speed.
In 1850, the total global population was one crore whereas as on date china and India have crossed these limits least to talk other countries.The scientific community has rightfully attributed that by the year ending 2020, we will require another earth to sustain the accelerating population. The people earth is shared by an estimated 6.4 billion people, apart from variet of animal life. Whereas on earth we are heading is the biggest cocooned question mark of the day. And then how long we will sustain on the space is quite a matter of utmost concern and obstrousness. Over the decades scores of conferences, summits have been held to bring under deliberations workable strategies to counteract the impending catastrophies but till date all these summits have proved t be and attributed as zero sumsm exercises. Beginning from 1972 (The Stockholmn) followed by Helsinki (198((, London (19192), the Rio summit (1992), Kyotosummit (1997), world summit on sustainable development (Johensberg)-2002, convention/summit in 2004 and 2005 in stockholmn and montreal have in unison yield nothing adequately fruitful. The U.S and most of the other European countries which in to too are the biggest polluters blame the under-privileged and developing countries are wrong. The rat race for industrialization, emission of obnoxious gases and pollution of pious rivers and oceans by hazardous affluent are the root causes of and are most warranting to be reverted else the doom’s day is no longer too ahead for which the modern man should take note very seriously.
(The author is deputy
conservator of forests)
9797683140