In a world where everyone witnessing the effects of climate change on a daily, the Environmental Management Consultants (EMC) is urging the adaptation of a sustainable development model as we continue to preserve the integrity of planet earth and battle climate change.
Managing Director of EMC, Shyam Nokta
The EMC, in its Earth Day message, noted that the impacts of climate change are being felt globally, and with increasing intensity. It noted that urgent action is needed to mitigate and adapt to these impacts as well as to protect our natural systems and biodiversity and secure the future of humanity.
“As we move to revamp our economies in a post COVID 19 scenario, it will be even more important to ensure that we adopt a sustainable development model, one which embraces a green economy approach, including forest conservation and renewable energy. Some countries, including Guyana through its Low Carbon Development Strategy and Partnership with the Kingdom of Norway, have already provided valuable lessons and experiences in this regard. Let us remain committed to playing our part to address climate change and protect nature. Our future depends on the actions we take today,” the Shyam Nokta headed Organisation noted.
Earth Day was a unified response to an environment in crisis — oil spills, smog, rivers so polluted they literally caught fire.
On April 22, 1970, 20 million Americans — 10 per cent of the U.S. population at the time — took to the streets, college campuses and hundreds of cities to protest environmental ignorance and demand a new way forward for our planet.
According to the Earth Day website, the first Earth Day in 1970 launched a wave of action, including the passage of landmark environmental laws in the United States. The Clean Air, Clean Water and Endangered Species Acts were created in response to the first Earth Day in 1970, as well as the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Many countries soon adopted similar laws.
Earth Day continues to hold major international significance: In 2016, the United Nations chose Earth Day as the day when the historic Paris Agreement on climate change was signed into force.
Earth Day 2020 is observed under the climate action banner. Climate change represents the biggest challenge to the future of humanity and the life-support systems that make our world habitable.
The website explains the motive behind the theme as “The enormous challenges — but also the vast opportunities — of acting on climate change have distinguished the issue as the most pressing topic for the 50th anniversary. Climate change represents the biggest challenge to the future of humanity and the life-support systems that make our world habitable.”
At the end of 2020, nations will be expected to increase their national commitments to the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change.
“The time is now for citizens to call for greater global ambition to tackle our climate crisis. Unless every country in the world steps up – and steps up with urgency and ambition — we are consigning current and future generations to a dangerous future. Earth Day 2020 will be far more than a day. It must be a historic moment when citizens of the world rise up in a united call for the creativity, innovation, ambition, and bravery that we need to meet our climate crisis and seize the enormous opportunities of a zero-carbon future,” according to the website.
