Effective planning for biodiversity and natural resources in cities and towns is growing into a major priority. As urban areas and the resident human populations grow, it becomes essential to attain conservation, as ecological communities share ecosystem functions and services which the humans depend on. Expanding the scope of land, natural resources and biodiversity conservation plays an important role in developing a substantial and rapidly growing body of knowledge in the communities and urban landscapes. There is a need for environmental learning to grow in a more practical and professional space. Only then will it attract young students and professionals to explore the scopes of it. Biodiversity conservation and the collaboration of indigenous communities will not only increase their knowledge, but also push forth the potential for incorporating such information into regional-level planning in the cities and towns. Nature would be the teacher and our cities will be where we implement the knowledge. UNESCO leads the global agenda of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and actively encourages education on biodiversity. The Organization has conducted activities to strengthen education and learning in biodiversity, in both teacher training and the development of learning content in the context of biodiversity reserves, UNESCO Global Geoparks and World Heritage sites, with the inclusion of the UNESCO Associated Schools Network (ASPnet) and UNESCO Chairs.
Greenhouse gas emissions and temperature levels have lately been the thrust of measuring carbon output, and ultimately climate change. Considering the goals of COP26 too, climate change is being associated majorly with vehicular and industrial emission, energy change and adopting measures that focus on lowering the emissions. But climate change is a much wider phenomenon of changes about the Earth.
The 2022 report on human migration indicated climate change as one of the main reasons. The World Migration Report 2022 released today, revealed a staggering figure and the even more worrying causes behind it. The report depicted that more people are being dislocated by disasters, an immediate outcome of climate change, rather than socio-political conflicts.
The International Convention on Biological Diversity in a recently held conference expressed its support for a global goal termed colloquially as ’30×30′. The aim is to protect and preserve 30% of the earth’s terrestrial, coastal, marine and freshwater ecosystems. India, being one of the world’s 17 mega-biodiverse countries is home to 7-8% of the world’s species and by meeting the target could protect its terrestrial and marine biodiversity. It can be achieved by providing food and water security, and promoting community efforts in climate adaptation.
Global plastic accumulation reached 8.3 billion tonnes since the 1950s (UNEP, 2019). In the efforts to decarbonize our society and economy, Bamboo can play a major role against climate change, rising as a valuable sustainable resource. It can be used in construction, can replace plastic in daily-use products, while providing a robust economic framework for farmers and in sequestering CO2 from the atmosphere.
The biggest climate conference of the decade, COP26 hosted by the United Nations finally closed its drapes on 12th November 2021. During the course of the two weeks of the summit, numerous meetings and conferences took place with nearly 200 nations committing to the Glasgow Climate Pact aiming at achieving the set goals of the conference.
Recent years, especially the last decade has been marked with extreme weather phenomenon. This is more frequent in the Himalayan regions of Jammu & Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, and some parts of northeast India. While most of these events are a result of changing climate, some of them are attributed to local weather phenomenon and other human factors like tunneling, unplanned road cutting, stone mining, deforestation, and construction.
Stretching over 5.5 million km2 , covering most of the South American countries and holding treasure of biodiversity are the lungs of our planet, the Amazon rainforest. It is the world’s richest and most varied hotspot of economically viable flora and fauna. It has always been a victim of extortion and exploitation, but lately it has gotten worse.
Mayank Mishra (Green Planet Portal) held a candid discussion with Prof. K AchutaRao, lead author of Chapter-3 titled, ‘Climate Information for Risk Assessment and Regional Adaptation’, in the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) of Working Group 1 of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). Prof. K AchutaRao candidly spoke on different dimensions of concern related to climate change, its impact, and the way ahead.
It would be surprising for one to know how much impact one’s daily activities have on the environment and climate. It doesn’t matter how small or insignificant they may seem, each choice one we make sets off a chain of events in motion.
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Technology is a useful servant, but a dangerous master, it was rightly said. Electronic devices have grown into an inevitable part of our daily lives.