World Environment Day 2015.

Every year when our wedding Anniversary comes on the 5th June of the year ,I think about environment because it coincides with World Environment Day.I have been studying about Environment and used to contribute a bit in the form of bio diversity,increasing Global heat etc ( my blogs Biovdiversity dt July 10 2013 & Bhumiyude Maranam dt6th January 2012 Refers).but these were not written in the first week of June.but there are matters connected with Environment in these blogs. I am fully aware that my efforts to study and express views on Environment which is a huge subject which is very difficult to understand and assimilate is a Herculian Task.However,as the Squirrel did in the construction of Ramsethu bridge as described in Ramayana, I am trying every year to understand nature better and better & part with such information in the form of blogs.This indeed helps me to refer later sometimes when necessity arise.So this year also let me try to explore new fields relating to Environment.this blog is comprehensive study on Environment and I have tried my level best to make it presentable.But of course the evaluation is for the readers to make. The United Nations General Assembly designated JUNE 5th as World Environment Day. The 5th of June was chosen Because it marked the Opening Day of the United Nations Conference on Human Environment in Stockholm,Sweden which led to the establishment of the United States Environment Programme,based in Nairobi, Kenya. The World Environment Day is celebrated Every year on 5th of June to promote Global Awareness to take positive environmental action to protect Mother Nature and the Planet Earth. The conference .The conference was again convened in 1992 with the hope that all Nations would recapture the enthusiasmand take up the Challenge Of preserving and enhancing the Environment. The General Assembly of United Nations urges every year all countries & Organizations to mark this day with activities that educate people about the threats to the Environment and encourage them to strike a balance between development and concern for the earth's future This year the Theme of United Nations is "seven Billion Dreams,One Planet,Consume with care" As the name "Environment"suggests,the topic is closely related to Nature. First of all what everyone should understand is that the NATURAL RESOURCES" it's protection and maintenanc of Mother Nature andshould also become the criterion for deciding the economical / Financial Stability of a Nation.it is not based merely on the gains achieved during a particular period or the losses sustained are not the factors of prospects of a country. These gains & losses are useful to assess the capability of Government in managing the affairs of the nation but are not the facts alone to assess the Financial stability. So let us try to attain a basic knowledge as to what Natural Resources are ,how to protect them & to flourish the Nation in terms of it's Stability NATURAL RESOURCES: **************+++++ This is not manmade.This is given to us by unknown powers of Nature.in different Nations it is different. Often this is classified by those who took interest in knowing it and availing of it's benefits,as Eco system. Eco system consists of BIODIVERSITY and GEO DIVERSITY. Natural Resources are Derived from ENVIRONMENT.Some of them are essential for our survival while most of them are used for our needs. Natural Resource are materials and Components that can be found within the Environment. Every man-made Product in composed of natural resources at it's fundamental level There is ,however, a separate Entity known as WATER,AIR,As well as a living organism like Fish or it may exist in the form of ORES,OIL and any form of ENERGY.These are not manmade. In the world today exists much debate and discussions on the allocation of these resources.Aii the debates and fight are based on what is given to us by nature.But in fact we are forgetting that it is she the Mother Nature that enables us to meet our both ends meet.in other words it amounts to hurting our mother if we neglect nature Some of the Natural Resources like Sunlight& air and water are found all over the world.But most of the natural resources ,other than sunlight,Air& Water,are found in particular places and can be called localized resources. Thee kind of localized resources may not be exhaustible easily .These are solar Radiation,Geothermal Energy,and air. However,vast Majority of resources are exhaustible which means they have limited quantity and can be depleted if notmanaged properly In order to protect the natural Resources an organization was formed in NEWYORK in the year 1970 which is known as Natural Resources Defense Council( NRDC).This organization works to protect wild life,and Wild placesAand to ensure a Healthy environment for all life on Earth. In India the most important part of this kind of place where protection is a must and is being safeguarded is the WESTERN GHATS, which is spread from Kerala to end of Maharashtra and a very small area of Gujrat as in the map below:

More about Western Ghats and the need for protection later on.Let us look into NRDC AND IT's functioning now NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL ************************************ NRDC IS THE WORLD's Most effective environmental action organization.They use Law,Science and support of more than Two Million members and Online activists to protect the Planet Earth's Wild life and wild places in order to make sure A safe and healthy life for all living beings. NRDC has been certified as one of the best charity organization of America as well as an organization meeting the Highest Standard of accountability of Donor funds in the world. There are places in the world looked after by the Government who do not get this kind of certifications because wherever there is Government funds there do appear to have tendency of doing undesirable activities leading to loss and misappropriations.it is highly difficult keep vigil over such organizations looked after by Government. Here NRDC got the best certification through Business Bureau reports Since the organization NRDC came into existence in 1970 by a Group of Law students& Attorneys,they helped in framing laws by America On Environment.Today a large number of Lawers,Scientists,and Professionals are working hard in NEWYORK,Washington,Chicago,Los Angeles,San Fransisco and Beijing. This organization has the reputation of being called by The NEWYORK Times,and the National Journal as the " credible,and forceful advocate for Strict and stringent Environmental Protection". The organization NRDC together with online activists works to solve the most pressing problems relating to Environment. The main issues that are looked into and is being continued to look after by NRDC are curbing Global warming,Creating a clean Energy Future,reviving the WORLD's Oceans,Defending endangered wild life& Wild life places,protecting health of Humanity by preventing Pollution,ensuring Safe & sound water and Fostering Sustainable communitiess. As mentioned above,the very purpose of NRDC IS to safeguard the Earth,It's people,It's plants,and Animals,and the Natural system on which All life depends.The NRDC work to Restore the integrity of the Elements that sustain Life VizAir,land and water and to defend endangered Natural places. The NRDC is in fact trying to achieve the goal of protecting Nature in Waysvthat advance the Long term welfare of Present and future Generations. This organization is working to ensure that The fundamental rights of all people are protected in such a way that they have a voice to take decisions to their environment.The ultimate Aim of NRDC is to help create A new life for the Mankind that can reach A definite stage without depleting Resources that support all life on Earth. While NRDC and United nations are tirelessly trying to protect environment in all respects,we Indians should not fall behind. In India we face the uphill Task of staging a battleon Biodiversity to protect the SpeciEs Rich mountains of Western Ghats.The indifferent attitude prevailing from time to tme had angered ConSerVationists in the The Western Ghats are a tainted Paradise.Spread over the western cost of the country from. Kerala to the end of Maharashtra excluding GujratThe area covered is just 7% of the land in India.But at the same time More than 30% of the Plants,Fish,Birds,Mammals Make the Ghats as their home. In this regard the Western ghats ALS is one of the leading places in the world As far as Bio diversity is conferee Besides,the Mountains are rich in Mineral resources also.every mountain in the world do not possess this kind of richness .apart from this the presence of Medicinal plants scan additional attraction forWestern Ghats.it is rated as one of the Top ten such mountains in theWorld. The western Ghats is big boost&Blessing for the region from Kanyakumari to the end of Maharashtra through krnataka,Goa,and Maharashtra and a small portion of Gujrat where active presence of Western Ghat is felt. The western Ghats also include many places of Heritage recognized by United Nations. The richness of the Ghats withbthe environmental features including mining potentials for minerals made Western ghats also place for competitions and disputes between interested parties ready for flourishing their business interest,. As the problems prevailed among,Conservationists,Eco friendly people, Miners with business interests were on an increasing Trend the Government had decided to appoint a committee headed by shri Madhav Gadgil to look into the merits and demerits of the area taking into account the environmental richness and it's importance. The Madhav Gadgil committee submitted their report on 31st of August 2011 As the report was for the Western ghats with paramount importance for the protection of Environment, Madhav Gadgil gave more importance for Environment than the Ground Reality relating to the interest of farmers in the valley and the migrants of Wynad who had procured enormous Land at cheaper price being Forest Land.Madhav Gadgil by giving more importance tot protecting the environment had assessed in his report on the basis of 1600 KM stretch covered by Biodiversity And the forests and wild life.His assessment was based on facts of Tiger reserves,National Parks, Wild Life Sancturies and reserved forests.So his assessment was 64% in favor of Eco friendly Environment. The interests of business was given less importance in this report So,there were hue& Cry from all corners from people who were interested in profit at the cost of destroyal of Forest& Wild life. So,Government had to appoint another committee called Kasturi Rangan committee .This committee submitted their report reducing the area of Eco friendly Forests giving more importance to mining etcIn this way they assessed the environment just 37% as compared to the Gadgil report of 64 percent. The 37 percent(%j) findings angered every Biodiversity Experts in India.They were of the opinion that the Kasturi Rangan report was just an under estimation ogThe Madhav Gadgil report and did not match the real situation prevailed in the country .They said neither the report had enough recommendations to safeguard the environment protection nor methods suggested to keep it in par with Business interests of Mining etc. Kasturi Rangan was of the opinion that the Biodiversity act of 2002 was sufficient to protect environment.This was not in par with the opinion of various experts on environment. TheGovernment was totally in darkness and did not know what exactly to be done. There was a lot of exchange of harsh words between Madhav Gadgil & Kasturi Rangan thereafter .Apart from this nothing has been decided either by theUPA government or by the NDA Government until today.Blaming the earlier government that they ruled for 60 years and did nothing are not honourable words from a honorable head of the nation forgetting that they also had ruled the country and various other parties also besides the Congress. Instead of Putting the Blame for everything on Congress alone calling them a family tree (Kudumbavazhcha) ,the present regime should have tried to put India on the right track by action & not by preaching.Besides India is still indebted to the Mother India Indira Gandhi who had introduced the Nationalisation of Banks in India In fact this was the steppingstone for the sound Financial Stability India has achieved today and nothing else matters. Anyhow that is a different matter which has just indirect impact on Environment. Let us now come back to Environment issue to find out how far our nation has progressed in this regard It is common knowledge that in India Environment and Natural Resources are the basic factors that contribute towards the Financial stability of Our country. We are very rich in natural resources,By exploiting Natural resources we could still maintain better standard among other nations of the world. For a typical example the smallest resource of SANDALWOOD alone ( normaand the red type) can earn India over 7500 crores of rupees a year.This is an Agricultural product in just a few acres of land in South India. Similarly there are enormous number of Agricultural Products in India that made our country richer than many other countries.There had never been any fall of natural resources in India except those forced by us by using potential places mining etc.these are matters which could be avoided in the best interest of the Nation Coming back to Environment ,our nation INDIA can not claim any substantial progress in relation to protecting the Environment since 1972 when the idea was first discussedin Sweden& later on 20 years later by United Nations. 43 years is too much of a period or rather 23 years after United Nations started handling the matter ,nothing has been done In India inspite of many Stewards had ruled the states ofthis Nation besides the central Government. In other countries like America ,they have many organizations with the support of the Government to protect Environment. There is a proverb in English that " Too much cooks spoil the meal"" This is what exactly happening in India.At least it is perfectly so in the matter of Environment.they fight each other with different arguments from the points of views of saving wild life to business like mining .But never do anything to protect Environment. The story of Environment is thus becoming rather pathetical by mixing it with personal interests of business. This is the two reports of Mr.Madhav Gadgil and Mr. kasturi Rangan are highlighting.While Gadgill gave paramount importance to Environment protection by giving 64 percent ofthe Western Ghats should be protected,the Kasturi Rangan report just afford 37 percent of protection for the Eco friendly Ghats.Obviously the Kasturi Rangan has not taken into account the specialized areas of wild life,rarecspecies and other rare aspects well known to everyone. The Environment is a vast subject which has scope to develop from the point of view of brightening the future of India.So let us pledge now to work hard to protect the Environment as this is the basic element that could control a nation's Fate The Devastating calamities like Earth quake,TSunami,Sea fury,Heat wave,Drought,Flood,Storm,Tornado and many more disasters are owing to not protecting the Environment properly ACCORDING TO THE INTER GOVERNMENTAL PANEL OF CLIMATE CHANGE (IPCC) an organization established by World Meteorological(WMO)& UNITED NATIONS ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME(UNEP),the temperature of Earth would go on increasing to the extent that in polar& Himalayan Area ICE would melt resulting the rise of the sea and within 90 years everything would burn on earth making Earth a collection of Ash by year 2100. By this time the sea would also rise Conquering earth and total disaster would take place. [ those who are interested to know more may kindly read my blog " the Death of Earth(Bhumiyude Maranam) dt Friday 6th of January 2012] Whether this could be true just time alone could tell. However,if the Environment is neglected totally for the sake of gaining a few bucks ,the possibility of such disaster can not be totally ruled out .The calamities mentioned above which are on the increasing trend due to r rise in Global Temperature day by day and the opinion of IPCC read together it looks like a matter of expecting the Unexpected. So it would appear that it is better for our country to approve and implement the Gadgil report ignoring the Kasturi Rangan Report. Inviting disasters of the kind like Earthquakes mentioned above for the gain of minor financial benefits does not appear to be adviceable . As I mentioned earlier ,the Environment is a vast subject .As no substantial progress in the protection of Environment has been subjected to serious thougtbso far,let us see the further developments in the next Environment Day in 2016. THIS YEARS DEADLIEST HEAT WAVE PREVAILING NOW CLAIMING MORE THAN 2000 lives is a record in three decades.The rising temperature in certain areas is over 47 degree Celcius. It is therefore time nowto think more effectively and seriously to protect ENVIRONMENT in order to protect future Generation. SREEDHARAN MUNDANAT 31st of May 2015