A Reminder to save Our Only Home — Earth
Homo sapiens are a result of 4 billion years of evolution and so is every other species we see on our planet today; from frogs to whales. From tiny humming birds who sing beautiful songs to the mighty tiger who makes a forest alive with a single roar, everyone has a specific job to do for making the ecosystem work. For example, an elephant plays an immense role in forest regeneration. As the Bagheera says to Mowgli, they are kings of forest. At the same time, they are farmers who help in spreading seeds to far off places and, in turn, expanding the forest. They are engineers who build roads and rivers in a forest just by walking. When they walk earth shakes.
Like this, every other type of diversity makes the system more stable. More linkages mean a healthy ecosystem and with that develops a healthy planet. Every year, the World Earth Day offers an opportunity to realise if this fragile ecosystem of ours is functioning as it should be or not.
Be it flora, fauna or avifauna, conservation is essential for every species. Being a responsible species, human beings have a duty to protect and conserve the fragile nature. Every hectare of prime forest lost is putting additional pressure on wildlife. This is true for the whole planet. Each and every species has a role to play in making this planet hospitable. So every species lost is creating a vacuum and breaking the chain. The system is becoming unhealthy.
We, human beings, are not the chain rather just a part of the chain. Do you know how turtles travel for thousands of kilometres to reach a destination where they were once hatched, in thousands of numbers perfectly synchronising their movement and reaching to coasts across the world for mass nesting. Observe how this species has mastered the technique without GPS and mobile communication.
In a research at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) it has been found that leatherback turtles maintain remarkably consistent compass headings in this deep, offshore realm. They might use a magnetic and/or solar compass to find their way in open ocean. They make this planet rich in their own way. Also, during their long distance journey, they support a number of other ocean dwellers, important for the marine ecosystem.
Beaches littered with garbage and plastic waste have driven them to the status of critically endangered. Just another plastic straw will push them towards extinction. In India, the situation is sad for the Great Indian Bustard too. Once a top contender for India’s national bird tag, it is now on the brink of extinction. As per some estimation, there are just 150 grown up Bustards on the whole planet. There is hope but we still need to
do more.
Extinction is a natural phenomenon. Throughout the geological history many of the species have been lost including mammoths and dinosaurs. But research says that in recent years due to anthropogenic activities, the extinction rate has been multiplied a thousand times.
Anthropogenic activities, including the emission of greenhouse gases, have increased dramatically since pre-industrial times, as the human footprint on the planet’s ecosystems has become ever larger which is very alarming. We are loosing so many species rapidly due to habitat loss and illegal hunting.
For example, the mass destruction of the Amazon forest and the rainforests of Indonesia has led to massive loss of wildlife, change in the landscape and global warming. There is a pressing need for widespread monitoring of natural ecosystems that are periodically exposed to fire, floods or droughts.
Humans are inextricably linked to and dependent upon ecosystems for their very survival. The importance of our natural world is revealed to us in the thousands of different ways that the organisms on the Earth interact with each other to contribute to the balance of the global ecosystem and the survival of the planet. No single life form can live in isolation. By conserving biological diversity and environment now, we enable our future generations to value and benefit from it too.
