Dr Anjani Ganase,
Coral reef ecologist,
Institute of Marine Affairs
The theme for World Environment Day 2022 asks us to remember that “in the universe are billions of galaxies, in our galaxy are billions of planets, but there is only one Earth,” the habitat upon which the survival of the human species depends. Since 1974, the observance of World Environment Day serves as a platform for issues such as human over-population, marine pollution, global warming, sustainable consumption, and wildlife crime. This year, the issues are more critical than ever as people around the world struggle to bring carbon emissions in line with the prescribed “1.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average.”
While we may distinguish ourselves with imaginary geographical borders, different languages and through political and cultural ideologies, we live on a planet that has no definitive boundaries other than these defined for political purposes. Nature and her patterns of biodiversity exist along a continuum of changing environmental conditions. In Trinidad and Tobago, our mountain ranges and forest reserves merge with our wetlands and coastal ecosystems that give way to near shore marine habitats – seagrass meadows and coral reefs – that serve as nurseries to the wildlife of the open ocean. Nature is singular and we are a product of that nature.
[caption id="attachment_958310" align="alignnone" width="1024"] A boat on the water at Bon Accord Lagoon, Tobago. [/caption]
However, the 10,000-year progress of humankind corresponds with significant biodiversity loss and today, the extinction rate is about ten to hundred times higher compared to 10 million years ago. Much of the biodiversity loss has occurred because of change in land and sea use, direct exploitation of organisms, climate change, pollution and invasive alien species (IPBES 2019). The scientific community has signalled a code red for humanity: they are alarmed that global average temperature is expected to rise above 1.5 degrees within this decade, reaching a tipping point that will set in motion new climate norms (including climate disasters) for the next millennia.
We are already experiencing severe droughts, wildfires, back-to-back annual coral bleaching events and mass die offs of wildlife. At the same time, social issues, such as poverty, health, equity, and education, are unabated, precipitating environmental and economic instability that threaten to undermine the progress being made in developing countries around the world. Climate change will disproportionately impact the developing world owing to the fragility of environmental, social and economic state in many of these places.
The solution requires transformative change that tackles the underlying indirect drivers of nature deterioration and includes developing incentives and widespread capacity for environmental responsibility, eliminating perverse incentives, taking pre-emptive and precautionary actions in regulatory and management institutions and businesses.
It is anticipated that these
