Dr. Partha J Das
Director and Head, ‘Water, Climate & Hazard Division’, Aaranyak
The Earth Day (ED), a day celebrated worldwide on April 22 last to think, discuss and act for the wellness of our mother earth and the flora and fauna and environment including the humankind that the planet earth supports for human being to be able to exist and sustain. The background of this global civic movement goes back to the stewardship of a few individuals in the USA who mobilised about 20 million conscious citizens of the country and organised the first version of the event on April 22 in 1970 with the campaign fussed largely on the issues of air and water pollution, rapid depletion of mineral resources, and endangered species that the people of America were slowly becoming concerned about. The ED celebrations became truly global in nature since 1990 making it the largest public event involving about a billion people across 193 countries at present when it enters the 56th year of observation. On this remarkable occasion, which is also observed by the UN institutions as the ‘International Mother Earth Day’ the world community is resorting to diverse activities at individual, family, institutional, community and societal levels for environment protection, pollution mitigation, biodiversity conservation, climate resilience and sustainability.
The theme for the campaign of this year’s ED, ‘Our Power, Our Planet’ has a profound insight attached to it that underlines the importance of small scale, localised and decentralised actions that we can take as individuals or groups, because it is the cumulative outcome of such small efforts that can bring about significant positive changes to environment and society. It is not always necessary that we need big projects with big budget, hi-tech equipment and sophisticated methods to make an impact of our work to make the world around us more sustainable. The power of collective action of the communities is the key to the success of many initiatives.
Small but consistent efforts in the right direction can lead us to big results. The world is full of examples of how people have overcome barriers and accomplished coveted goals through collaborative efforts in small steps even though they didn’t get enough support from government, or other external agencies.
Aaranyak’s year-round activities in education, research, capacity building, and advocacy are deeply rooted in the organization’s overarching mission to foster biodiversity conservation, ensure environment protection and achieve disaster and climate resilience in Northeast India, aligning directly with the goals of the Earth Day.
Therefore, what we have been doing consistently so far has helped us contribute better to the ecological security and human well-being of the communities that we work with and work for. The ED reminds us that we need to work harder, with better strategy and more dedication and energy to transform the synergy of the power of people and our capacity into action for sustainability.