REIMAGINE. RECREATE. RESTORE.
For too long, we have been exploiting and
destroying our planet’s ecosystems. Every three seconds, the world loses enough forest to
cover a football pitch and over the last century we have& destroyed half of
our& wetlands. 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 1.5°C.
Ecosystem loss is depriving the world of
carbon sinks, like forests and peatlands, at a time humanity can least afford
it. Global greenhouse gas emissions have grown for three
consecutive years and the planet is one pace for
potentially 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 coronaviruses – to spread.
With this big and challenging picture, the
World Environment Day is focus in the ecosystem restoration and its theme is
“Reimagine. Recreate.Restore.”
Ecosystem restoration means
preventing, halting and reversing this damage – to go from exploiting nature to
healing it. This World Environment Day will kick off the UN
Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030),
a global mission to revive billions of hectares, from forests to farmlands,
from the top of mountains to the depth of the sea.
Only with healthy ecosystems can we enhance
people’s livelihoods, counteract climate change and stop the collapse of
biodiversity.
