Siddarth Dubey
In ‘The Future We Want’, the outcome document of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, June 2012), United Nations Member States clearly highlighted the importance of management of natural resources to support the future sustainable development agenda.
The world is undergoing significant demographic and social changes, with urbanization and migration being two of the most important issues. This will bring to bear increasing influences on the production of wastewater. The patterns of urbanization will see, in some areas, almost explosive growth in the secondary urban centres, in many countries. Although, on the one hand, this may be seen as problematic, from the point of view of collection and treatment, it will pave the way for an exciting opportunity for decentralised collection and treatment and (as is the case with most forms of waste, collection, treatment and safe reuse as close as possible to the point of production) will be more economically attractive. On the negative side, if urban sprawl is allowed to encourage discharge of waste water from small scale manufacturing enterprises, unplanned settlements and medical industries, this in itself will seriously affect health of local populations.
In the context of the Rio+20 outcomes and of the changes and challenges towards 2015 and beyond, the fundamental role of management of natural resources to address critical issues such as health, the environment, gender and human rights, climate change, energy security and food security, and to contribute to poverty eradication and sustainable development in general, has been recognised. It is therefore now an opportune moment for UN set out a new Strategy to 2020 to be able to continue to respond to needs and demands of the UN system and of Member States in a new development framework.
Every year we celebrate Earth Day on 22nd of April has to make us aware about the importance of our planet. This day was established to raise the public awareness for self consciousness as well as keeping the environmental issues in front of the people. There is a dire need to promote the idea of ecological balance among people as well as encourage them for respecting the assets of the planet. It is very necessary to take care of the environmental issues to stay healthy and alive as cruel people have mercilessly utilized its resources and depleted its life supporting resources over the centuries.
One of the big examples of it is the depletion of the Ozone layer which prevents us from the ultra violet rays of the sun. Another big problem of the environment is death of rivers by getting mixed with the industrial toxic materials which leads to the global warming. Increasing industrialization on daily basis leads to deforestation which ultimately leads to the rise in Earth temperature. These are the life ending dangers on the earth forever which can be lessens through the small steps such as new trees plantation, inhibiting the deforestation, limiting the vehicles use to reduce air pollution, enhancing the energy conservation through reducing the unnecessary use of electricity. Such small steps become a big step if taken care by the people worldwide together.
In India, despite desperate measures taken by the state, everything is being packed in the plastic bags or given in it by the shopkeepers. Plastic bags productions are increasing day by day which is very shameful condition for us as these materials are nondegradable. The oil spills( notorious Deep Water Horizon oil spill in Gulf of Mexico), toxic dumps, air and water pollutions due to industrialization, raw sewage, use and production of pesticides and many more.
Over the past 20 years, there have been a series of failed attempts to create an effective international treaty on climate change mitigation. In 1997, the first major international agreement was passed, The Kyoto Protocol. Since then, many Summits and many efforts to come to agreement Rio, Copenhagen have ended in a flop. Governmental, business, and non-profit leaders must come to an agreement that will cut our emissions and limit our warming to 2°C.
This year could be the most exciting year in environmental history. The year in which economic growth and sustainability join hands. The year in which world leaders finally pass a binding climate change treaty. The year in which citizens and organizations divest from fossil fuels and put their money into renewable energy solutions. These are tough issues but we know what’s at stake is the future of our planet and the survival of life on earth. We need to take a stand so that together, we can show the world a new direction. It’s our turn to lead. So our world leaders can follow by example.
The challenge of the Decade is to focus attention on action-oriented activities and policies that ensure the long-term sustainable management of natural resources, in terms of both quantity and quality.
Let’s redefine what progress looks like.
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