Our Land: Our Future

Dr Vivek S Agarwal

The degraded land of more than 2 Billion hectares, equivalent to the area of India and Russia, which affects more than half of the world's GDP and billions of population, is continuously expanding. Despite the United Nations reaching almost the middle of the decade starting from 2021 to restore the ecology, this process does not seem to stop. The fact is that every year 125 million hectares of land producing about 20 million tons of food grains becomes barren, which directly causes food and water shortage in the entire world. Also, every year about 55 million people are in the grip of drought, due to which all animals and flora get affected. The situation is serious and is getting worse. If this trend continues, then in the next twenty-five years, due to ecological reasons, there will be a loss of global GDP equivalent to US $Ten Trillion.

Despite considering the earth as mother, it is being continuously exploited instead of being protected. Due to the effect of climate change, fertile land is getting degraded and as a result, vegetation necessary for life is also getting depleted. In the name of environment, just planting trees is done and the matter is settled, whereas the problem is very serious and this is not the only solution. That is why the theme to observe World Environment Day this year has been kept on land restoration, desertification and drought resilience under the slogan “Our land. Our future. We are #GenerationRestoration.”. This time, the current generation has been called upon to work as Generation Restoration to save the earth.

40 percent of the world's population i.e. about 3.2 Billion, who are basically farmers living in villages or economically deprived, are directly affected by land degradation or barrenness. The effect is on the entire humanity, organisms and biodiversity, but due to degraded land, there is a shortage of food, harvest failures, rising inflation, and carbon emitted due to the climate change, the deprived class is severely affected. According to an estimate, due to degradation in the nature of land, food production will decrease by about 12 percent every year and inflation will increase by more than 30 percent by 2040. Along with this, it is estimated that about 135 million people will be displaced by 2030 in view of the environmental disaster. This new category will be placed in the new category of environmentally displaced people. Probably, the number of young generation will be in majority among them who will be forced to migrate due to lack of resources and opportunities. Among the many problems related to displacement, health, food, water and clean environment will also stand as challenges in themselves. This will start a new cycle of social, economic and environmental imbalance, in which maintaining one's own existence will give birth to a new global order. In the past years, the importance of regional development has been propounded for ecological balance, but in practical terms, the common people have been keeping themselves away from implementing it. The reality is that our soil contains up to 60 percent of biological species, which include microorganisms that facilitate biological processes, medicinal fungi and mammals. 95 percent of food is produced from this soil and it also has the capacity to absorb carbon emissions in abundance. It is believed that there are as many organisms in a spoonful of healthy soil as there are humans on earth. Perhaps this is the reason why soil is held in high esteem in terms of purity and is also used as a medium of purification. But due to climate change, decreasing forest areas and the desire for yield, land is getting eroded.

There is a lot of tree plantation in the events of Environment Day, but in reality there is a need to do something different from this and the most important contribution in that is of dietary change. The use of pulses and other sustainable dietary items in food helps in keeping the land fertile. Also, making compost from the waste generated in the kitchen also proves to be helpful in maintaining a better environment and fertile land. The biggest culprit for the land getting degraded or desertification is the continuous erosion being done to fulfill the needs of physical life. In anticipation of a comfortable life of the present, the foundation of a thorn is laid for the future. A meaningful life can be lived only by controlling the needs and keeping in mind the apprehensions of the future. Before harm to the earth, depicting its long-term effect will probably orient us towards responsible behaviour. Our irresponsible behaviour will leave dire circumstances as a legacy for the coming generation.

Therefore, to keep Mother Earth happy, life-giving and fertile, it is necessary that all of us create our happy, green and prosperous future by modifying our diet, behaviour, lifestyle in a sustainable manner. The first step of change for a better life will start from ourselves.