The pandemic that has afflicted the world for over 1.5 years has demonstrated the devastation that ecosystem loss can cause. We have created ideal circumstances for infections, such as coronaviruses, to proliferate by reducing the area of natural habitat for animals. The reality is that only healthy ecosystems can improve people's lives, combat climate change, and protect the environment.
Theme for World Environment Day 2021
The subject for World Environment Day 2021 is "Ecosystem Restoration," and Pakistan will host the event. This World Environment Day will mark the start of the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030), a global effort to restore billions of hectares of land, from forests to farmlands, from the highest peaks to the deepest depths of the ocean.
The planet's ecosystems have been exploited and destroyed by mankind. Every three seconds, the globe loses enough forest to cover a football field, and we have lost half of the world's wetlands in the previous century. Even if global warming is limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius, up to 50% of the world's coral reefs have already been lost, and up to 90% of coral reefs might be destroyed by 2050.
