'Protect nature and it will protect you': Prakash Javadekar at UN Biodiversity Summit

Union Minister of Environment, Forests and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar addressed the United Nations Biodiversity Summit on the occasion of the “75th anniversary of the UN". While addressing the summit, Javadekar asserted that India has been championing the cause of Climate Action through conservation, sustainable lifestyle and green development model.

Javadekar began his address by saying that India has a culture of not just conserving and protecting nature, but living in harmony with it since time immemorial.

Thereafter he seemingly targeted China, the alleged origin of COVID-19, by saying that the emergence of the virus has emphasised the fact that unregulated exploitation of natural resources coupled with unsustainable food habits and consumption pattern leads to the destruction of the system that supports human life.

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'Prakruti Rakshite Rakshita'

He recited a Sanskrit verse "Prakruti Rakshite Rakshita" meaning "if you protect nature, it will protect you" and invoked Mahatma Gandhi's principles of non-violence not only for humans but towards animals and nature. He stated that these principles have been enshrined in the constitution which are reflecting in various laws and legislations of India.

"It is due to these beliefs and efforts and India's ethos, with only 2.5% of Earth's landmass India, we have 8% of the world's recorded biodiversity. The course of last decade, India has enhanced the combined forest and tree cover by 15,000 square kilometres to reach nearly 25%," he said.

He also apprised the summit that India aims to restore 26 million hectares of degraded and deforested land, and achieve land-degradation neutrality by 2030.

Speaking of the groundwork that India has done in the past he said, "India has operationalized a system for access and benefit-sharing provisions of the Convention on Biological Diversity through a national network of 250,000 Biodiversity Management Committees across the country involving locals and 170,000 Peoples Biodiversity Registers for documentation of biodiversity."

He also spoke about the two summits organised by India in 2020 namely The fourteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP 14) and 13th Conference of Parties (COP) of the Convention on the conservation of migratory species of wild animals (CMS) in Gandhinagar in 2020.

"India has already taken a leadership role in order to conserve biodiversity by organizing two Conference of Parties (CoPs) within a span of less than a year. We organized CoP 14 of UNCCD during September 2019 in New Delhi, followed by CoP 13 of the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) in Gandhinagar during February 2020," he said.

Javadekar said that India has been championing the cause of "climate action" through conservation, sustainable lifestyle, and green development model.

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