sharpeye

With the onset of the pandemic and recurrent lockdowns globally the year 2020 has left its own mark.   Though the earth had an opportunity to heal itself nevertheless it has presented a huge challenge before us i.e. re-emergence of plastic pollution debate.  Every day approximately 8 million pieces of plastic pollution find their way into our oceans. There may now be around 5.25 trillion macr o and microplastic pieces floating in the open ocean. UNICEF estimates that by the end of the year, we need 2.2 billion surgical masks, 1.1 billion gloves, 13 million goggles, and 8.8 million face shields along with Personal Protective Equipments (PPEs). It’s not been long since we celebrated June 8th as World Oceans Day giving us a reminder about the importance of oceans' role in our everyday life. With the waste generated and disposed harming the biodiversity and marine ecosystem, the health of the oceans is fraught in distress, wreaking havoc on the delicate marine ecology. Pandem

The year of 2020 signs the triple onset of Super Year for Nature and Biodiversity, U.N. Decade on Ecosystem Restoration and the Last Decade of SDGs goals earmarking the start of what many understand will be the most important decade of the century. In 2019, with the inception of the U.N. Decade on Ecosystem Restoration in March and the Nature-Based Solutions for Climate Change was launched. It’s time we put the spotlight to harness the power of nature again. COVID-19 has caught us off guard with zoonotic diseases is on the rise, whether Ebola, Nipah or the present COVID-19. When we destroy animal habitats or trade illegally in wildlife, the spill-over effect on humans is bound to increase. On the other hand, witnessing fall of Green House emissions by 33%, breathing clean air, rivers and water bodies are regaining their lost pristine properties, ozone hole is closing. In short, our mother nature is healing. But this is temporary and short term gains. In actual, we certainly ha