11 June 2021: UPSC Exam Comprehensive News Analysis

E. Editorials

Category: ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY

1. Making peace with nature

Context:

• The World Environment Day 2021 celebrations witnessed the launch of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021 – 2030.

Background:

• During the Bonn Challenge 3.0 high-level meeting in 2018, El Salvador announced plans to propose a United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021–2030, aimed at boosting existing efforts to restore degraded ecosystems.
  • The Bonn Challenge aims to restore 350 million hectares of degraded ecosystems globally by 2030.
• Subsequently in 2019, the UN General Assembly officially adopted the resolution declaring 2021–2030 the UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration.

Environmental degradation:

• Environmental degradation is the deterioration of the environment through depletion of resources such as quality of air, water and soil; the destruction of ecosystems; habitat destruction; the extinction of wildlife; and pollution.
• Ecosystems and the environment are being degraded at an unprecedented rate.
• Humanity is facing a “triple environmental emergency” of biodiversity loss, climate disruption and escalating pollution.

Effect on human beings:

• Environmental degradation is one of the ten threats officially cautioned by the high-level panel on Threats, Challenges and Change of the United Nations.
• Environmental degradation leads to the reduction of the capacity of the environment to meet social and ecological objectives and needs.
  • The degradation of land and marine ecosystems undermines the well-being of 3.2 billion people and costs about 10 per cent of the annual global gross product in loss of species and ecosystems services.
  • Key ecosystems that deliver numerous services essential to food and agriculture, including supply of freshwater, protection against hazards and provision of habitat for species such as fish and pollinators, are declining rapidly.
  • Currently, about 20 per cent of the planet’s vegetated surface shows declining trends in productivity with fertility losses linked to erosion, depletion and pollution in all parts of the world. By 2050 degradation and climate change could reduce crop yields by 10 per cent globally and by up to 50 per cent in certain regions.
• The COVID-19 pandemic is a direct result of the degradation of natural areas, species loss, and exploitation. The clearance of forests has led to zoonotic pathogens more frequently jumping from wildlife to humans, creating public health emergencies.

Ecosystem restoration:

• Ecosystem restoration is defined as a process of reversing the degradation of ecosystems, such as landscapes, lakes and oceans to regain their ecological functionality; in other words, to improve the productivity and capacity of ecosystems to meet the needs of society.
• Ecosystem restoration would focus on re-establishing ecological integrity.
• This can be done by allowing the natural regeneration of overexploited ecosystems or by planting trees and other plants or by adopting soil enhancement measures or improved and sustainable management practices.

UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration:

• The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration aims to prevent, halt and reverse the degradation of ecosystems on every continent and in every ocean.
• It is a joint initiative by the UN Environment Programme and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.
• The UN has called for the restoration to nature of a total area the size of China.
• Ecosystem restoration promoted through this UN Decade takes a multi-functional landscape approach, looking at the mosaic of interdependent land uses in which ecological, economic, social, and development-based priorities can find convergence, balance, and complementarity.
• As part of the efforts towards ecosystem restoration, there would be an emphasis on building a strong, broad-based global movement to facilitate global cooperation for the restoration of degraded and destroyed ecosystems. The initiative will aim to enhance cooperation and resource mobilization to increase the flow of financial resources, technologies, knowledge, and capacity building to countries and jurisdictions working towards ecosystem restoration.

Significance of the effort:

• Ecosystem restoration benefits people and nature.

Counter triple environmental emergency:

• The initiative will help counter the ‘triple environmental emergency’ that the world faces today of climate disruption, biodiversity loss and escalating pollution.
• The envisaged efforts could contribute about a third of the needed climate change mitigation, as well as protect nature and biodiversity. Ecosystem restoration could remove up to 26 gigatons of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere by reviving natural carbon stores.
• The initiative can help halt the collapse of biodiversity by rebuilding homes for wildlife by restoring forests.

Move towards a more sustainable future:

• The envisaged efforts will help put the world on track for a sustainable future.
• Mainstreaming ecosystem restoration in policy and planning will help address current developmental challenges due to land degradation, biodiversity loss, and climate change vulnerability through climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Benefits to humans:

• Ecosystem restoration approach offers significant benefits to humans.
  • Ecological integrity will help ensure food security and water supply for humans and will thus help manage the associated risks of conflict and migration.
  • A well-planned ecosystem restoration approach offers an unparalleled opportunity for job creation. The enhanced opportunities for livelihood can help end poverty.
  • The initiative also makes economic sense given that the restoration of 350 million hectares of degraded terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems by 2030 could generate US$9 trillion in ecosystem services. The benefits obtained from ecosystem generation on average exceed the costs of the initial investment tenfold, whereas the cost of inaction is at least three times the cost of ecosystem restoration.

Raise awareness:

• The initiative will help raise awareness of the importance of functional ecosystems for human well-being and productive activities, local development and the economic sustainability of society.

Link with other initiatives:

• Ecosystem restoration is recognized as a key component in achieving targets under some important international conventions and agreements.
  • Ecosystem restoration is fundamental to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, mainly those on climate change, poverty eradication, food security, water and biodiversity conservation.
  • It would also be an important pillar of international environmental conventions, such as the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2020 and its Aichi Biodiversity Targets, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and Paris Agreement, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification and its target of Land Degradation Neutrality
  • Planned activities during the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration are also designed to contribute to the Bonn Challenge to restore degraded and deforested land.

Link with health:

• Healthier ecosystems and a healthier respect for the wild spaces of our world will give us a healthier planet and healthier people.
• Ecosystem restoration is a necessary intervention to counter the increasing number of zoonotic pathogens jumping onto humans. The recent COVID-19 pandemic is an illustration of this.

Steps to be taken:

GHG mitigation:

• There must be a concerted effort to reduce carbon dioxide emissions as part of climate change mitigation efforts.
  • Globally the net carbon dioxide emissions should reduce by 45% by 2030 compared to 2010 and must reach net-zero emissions by 2050 to be able to achieve the 1.5°C Paris Agreement target.
• This needs the transformation of energy systems, land use, agriculture, forest protection, urban development, infrastructure, and lifestyles.

Conserving biodiversity:

• The ecosystem restoration approach must be aligned with conserving and restoring biodiversity given the critical importance that biodiversity plays in maintaining ecological balance.

More sustainable approach:

• There is an urgent need to transform the economic, financial and production systems towards sustainability.
• This would require eliminating environmentally harmful subsidies, considering natural capital in calculating the wealth of the nation and investing in low-carbon and nature-friendly technologies. Such an approach will help minimize air and water pollution and waste.
• The world should work towards creating food systems that work with nature and reduce waste.
• The government has to incentivize financial flows and investment patterns towards sustainability by appropriate policy measures and fiscal support.

Participative approach:

• Transformational ecosystem restoration requires a participative approach.
• The initiative will only succeed if everyone plays a part. While efforts from national governments are vital, everyone has a role to play, including the private sector, NGOs and individuals.

Conclusion:

• In the light of the “triple environmental emergency” that the world faces today, reconciling humanity with nature is essential.
• There has never been a more urgent need to restore damaged ecosystems.
• Ecosystems support all life on Earth. The healthier our ecosystems are, the healthier the planet – and its people.

Additional information:

• The New York Declaration on Forests (NYDF) is a voluntary and non-binding international declaration to take action to halt global deforestation by 2030.
• In 2019, India raised its ambition for restoration, promising an increase in restored degraded land from 21 to 26 million hectares by 2030 under the Bonn Challenge.