By Shalini Dhyani on 05 June 2019.
First and foremost on behalf of all CEM South Asia Regional Network let me thank you all for your continued interest and support to our blog Harnessing Nature and the posts in last one year that targeted a variety of concerns related to ecosystems, environment, Nature based Solutions. We are one year old and this brings even more responsibility to bring awareness to issues relevant to not only CEM but also human wellbeing.
Today on World Environment Day (WED) 2019, I remember the first post I wrote last year that emphasized on why in present situation celebrating and understanding the importance of environment and ecosystems have been more and more important for the entire humanity. UN has always come up with WED themes relevant to the ongoing scenario of environment. Last year, 2018, it was Plastic pollution and this year it is Air pollution with the hashtag #BeatAirPollution
IPBES (Intergovernmental Panel on Science Policy Interface for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services) Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services released this year in UNESCO headquarter at Paris, France has also reflected on the loss of ecosystems resulting in rapid loss of nature’s benefits to human wellbeing.
The way our development planning has been there, a very small and negligible space is provided to biodiversity and ecosystem services inclusive development. Loss of ecosystems has been tremendous and has been well seen in urban expansions mushrooming in Asia. Cities with 1 million population are expanding fast and so are first, second and third tier cities. Loss of ecosystems and green spaces has resulted in loss of supporting this growth and non-sustainable growth is adding to the misery of populations. Urban areas in Asia are new disaster hot spots and the intensity of natural disasters is increasing because of human activities and decreasing green buffers. Peri-Urban and rural areas are also under the brunt of increasing urban foot print.
Air pollution in Beijing, in China especially the increase in Particulate Matter (PM) was a huge cause of concern in the last few years. 2019 theme of WED and responsibility to bring awareness has been given to China. Such concerns were also reported for Delhi that has affected the air environment. In last few years other small cities of South Asia like Kathmandu, Nepal and Kabul, Afghanistan and many other small cities of South Asia have also come on the most polluted air list. All thanks to unplanned expansion, an increase in industrial, agriculture, vehicular, household and solid waste dump sites/landfill emissions and reduced green spaces. Climate COPs have a huge concern on increasing vulnerability of our planet because of increasing air pollution. Building resilience of people and ecosystems is the major concern of global fraternity.
All these cities are expanding with no concern to urban green spaces. Increase of PM and GHGs is a cause of concern it not only increases temperature but also results in breathing and other health issues. Urban green spaces, and ecosystems can help improve the situation they have Air Pollution Tolerance (APT) capability and can help in addressing the urban heat islands (UHI) and improving the microclimate. There are so many examples where studies have proven that even a hectare of a green patch is capable to help address the air pollution issues. There is a requirement of including more trees in our urban growth models. Including Nature based Solutions (NbS) to address urban areas can help addressing the situations of air pollutions. Other solutions can be viable but for a very short time. It is important to link with natural and cost effective solutions. Solutions that keep people and ecosystems in center stage can be more effective than grey solutions. There are many NbS in the domain that can be used as per requirement of the situations.
So, my request to all of you is while reducing our ecological footprint by using less of products that increase emissions, make sure we opt for public transportation, reduce meat products in our food, switch off electric switches when not in use or switch to clean energy sources, avoid burning trash and use sources that don’t affect your environment and ecosystems in a bigger way.
Shalini Dhyani, PhD, is Scientist with CSIR – National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Nagpur, India. Shalini is also Regional Chair of IUCN Commission on Ecosystem Management South Asia.