Recently, I had a talk with a few learned people who are into reading diverse books. There were two emerging concepts that we had a great discussion on.
One point was about sustainability.
Let’s begin with the word – sustainability
the ability to be maintained at a certain rate or level.
“the sustainability of economic growth”
- avoidance of the depletion of natural resources in order to maintain an ecological balance.
“the pursuit of global environmental sustainability”
This was the main point of discussion. We have seen people use this word liberally just as people used to use the word Corporate social responsibility a few years ago. Are we all truly sustainable in our lifestyle? Using cloth bags, glassware or metal ware is the beginning but how far have you gone to ensure that your home is absolutely plastic free? It is doubtful that we have actually become zero plastic in our homes, forget the whole planet!
There are microplastics everywhere where you can’t even discern. Take for example your own clothes. The threads could have plastic fibres too. Your footwear no matter how tall the brands claim, have plastic. Why? Even the saree’s piping has plastic threads!
Thus, it became highly important to understand how deeply we were ingrained with sustainable solutions within our homes or workspaces.
The second point came to the talk of biodiversity. Some interesting facts emerged during this discussion. The researchers of Nature Sustainability Report found these startling facts –
We found that the direct effects of cities on natural habitat and biodiversity are large but straightforward to map using satellite data. Direct effects occur when urban areas expand, converting natural habitat like forests into pavement and concrete and buildings. Direct effects are cumulatively significant, with 290,000 square kilometres of nature habitat forecast to be converted to urban land uses between 2000 and 2030.
Urban areas are most causing the destruction of high-biodiversity habitat in places like coastal China, Brazil, and Nigeria. It is not surprising that urban growth appears to add up to a big loss of biodiversity, as 290,000 square kilometres is a big area, about the size of the state of Arizona. Globally, species richness at a site is on average 50 percent lower at urban sites than in intact natural habitat.
There has been lots of research into direct effects of urban expansion in particular cities or places. In our paper, we reviewed more than 600 such scientific studies. Shockingly, however, the scientific community really is not studying the effects of urban growth in the regions where the satellite data leads us to expect the effects would be the most intense.
We all know so little about our biodiversity that we claim to know it all! Where we live itself is a place where biodiversity is extinct or on decline and we didn’t even realise it. You and I all live in cities. The impact of our existence (including food sourcing) has had a negative effect on the biodiversity of the place. Here’s some interesting fact about Indian Biodiversity that we all should know –
- India is the only country that can boast of having native population of lions and tigers
- Though having only 2% of the world’s land mass, we surprisingly have 8% of the world’s biodiversity
- World’s 33% of plants are endemic to India (Which means it is not found elsewhere in the world)
- Everyone is talking about mangroves. India has 3% of the world’s entire mangrove vegetation
- There are 35 biodiversity hotspots in the world. Out of these India has 4 biodiversity hotspots and is one of the 17 megadiverse countries in the world
- 12% of the world’s bird species are found in India
- Kharai Camels that can swim and unique breed are only found in Kutch, Gujarat
- Half of the world’s aquatic plants are found in India
- India ranks 10th in plant rich country ranking
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In terms of endemism, India’s position is tenth in birds with 69 species, fifth in reptiles with 156 species and seventh in amphibians with 110 species.
With so much to see in our own country, why do we need inspiration from elsewhere? Let’s read more about our rich biodiversity and protect it!
