03-06-21 Daily-Odisha-OPSC Current Affairs

Led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Food and <a href="https://exam.pscnotes.com/Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations together with the support of partners, it is dedicated to prevent, halt, and reverse the loss and degradation of Ecosystems worldwide, and combate , <a href="https://exam.pscnotes.com/Climate-change”>Climate Change as well as weather-relate aberrations.

For too long, we have been exploiting and destroying our planets ecosystems. Every three seconds, the world loses enough forest to cover a football pitch. As much as 50 per cent of our coral reefs have already been lost and up to 90 per cent of coral reefs could be lost by 2050, even if global warming is limited to an increase of 1.5C. Ecosystem loss is depriving the world of carbon sinks, like forests and peat lands, at a time humanity can least afford it. Global greenhouse gas emissions have grown exponentially and the planet is on catastrophic climate change.

The emergence of Covid-19 has also shown just how disastrous the consequences of ecosystem loss can be. By shrinking the area of natural habitat for animals, we have created ideal conditions for pathogens including corona viruses to spread to human beings as their host.

Odisha is one of the most privileged States in the country with varied topography, Geography and ecosystems of hills, plain forest and farm-lands, terrestrial forests and coastal MANGROVES, sea coast of 420 km long, major and minor rivers, wetlands enriched with varied Biodiversity from wild to cultivated and domesticated.

The State is also rich with about one-fifth of the Minerals and metals of the country such as bauxite, iron, coal, chrome, manganese, limestone, rare earths, etc. The forest and farmland based economy is now in transition to minerals and metals based economy. Forests and farmlands are sacrificed for mines and minerals processing industries, urban expansion and Infrastructure development.The industrial belts have become the sites of heat islands and environmental pollution, the rivers flow polluted waters, the ground water table goes down and becomes saline, the farm lands lose productivity.

The State is prone to frequent natural disasters like Cyclones, floods and droughts. Lakhs of skilled and unskilled labourers and farm workers are migrating to other States in search of jobs. The Covid-19 pandemic has added fuel to the problem manifold.

Big cats, antelopes and deers, reptiles, birds, and myriad other wild animals moving in the wild freely in the past are now mostly restricted to nineteen protected sanctuaries and national parks. Losing their natural habitats and food Plants the elephants have become stray animals entering into human habitations.

Only with healthy ecosystems we can stop the collapse of biodiversity, counteract climate change, and enhance peoples livelihoods. Ecosystems are defined as the interaction between living organisms i.e plants, animals, people, Microorganisms and the non-living components such a Soil, water, air, climate, etc. In an eco-system all the organisms equally share the same environment and habitat which is common. This includes natural and man-made macro- and micro- ecosystems such as parks, recreation gardens, cities or farms.

Ecosystem restoration includes activities such as protection of degraded lands and wastelands, growing trees inland and on the coast, greening our cities, allowing our gardens again to grow wild.