• Wednesday, June 03, 2020
• Inter Press Service

Jun 03 (IPS) - My name is Emma, I'm 10 years old, and I live in Canada. I am sharing this video with you, today, because I learned at school that my future – the future of all children – will be determined by what we do together today.

The life we lead – from the foods we eat, the air we breathe, the water we drink and the climate that makes our planet a livable place – comes from nature. If we do not do our part to help it, everything we have in our lives will be lost.

We are at a point of "no return."

World Environment Day is the most important day for environmental action. It has been celebrated every year on June 5th: working with governments, businesses, celebrities, and citizens to focus their efforts on a key environmental issue.

This year, the theme for the day is "Biodiversity." It is the foundation that supports all life on land and below water. It affects every aspect of human health, providing clean air and water, nutritious foods, science and medicine, resistance to disease and helps with climate change. Changing, or removing, just one part of this delicately balanced system affects the entire life system - and the results are devastating.

According to IPBES, as many as one million species of living things are at risk of extinction. 75% of our land-based environments and two thirds of our marine environments have been changed by human actions. Urban areas have more than doubled since 1992. Plastic pollution has increased ten times since 1980, all long before I was born.

And now, COVID19 shows just how the destruction of biodiversity can harm the system that supports human life. The United Nations says that almost one billion cases of illness and millions of deaths happen every year from diseases caused by coronaviruses. About three quarters of all emerging infectious diseases in humans are passed on to people from animals. And what most people do not understand is that sustaining biodiversity on our planet protects us against pandemics.

IUCN has made it clear that governments have not done enough to stop the loss of biodiversity on our planet. Much remains to be done.

Nature is sending us a message. So please listen for the sake of our future!

© Inter Press Service (2020) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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