REVITALISING THE

ECOSYSTEM
The concept of nature needs no introduction. From oxygen
supply to crop pollination to food production, the stability of
life is based on the environment, no less, the ecosystem.
Regardless, it stares at grave danger. Around 1 million animal
and plant species are threatened with extinction, according to
the 2019 Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and
Ecosystem Service. Human activity has altered nearly 75% of
the earth’s surface, squeezing wildlife into unfamiliar territory
across the world. Habitat loss and deterioration, majorly due to
human actions, have reduced global terrestrial habitat integrity
by 30%. As we proceed to encroach on fragile ecosystems, we
invite human-wildlife contact. This enables wildlife pathogens
to spill over to livestock and humans, vastly increasing the risk
of disease emergence and amplification.

Consequently, ecosystem restoration has become a vital

initiative. Ecosystem restoration is the recovery of degrading
ecosystems and the conservation of existing ecosystems. There
is no shortage of methods to arrive at this goal: actively
planting or removing pressures to allow natural recovery, just
to name a few. Restoration could potentially assist the global
drive of climate change eradication by removing an estimated
13-26 gigatons of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. The
economic benefits of such interventions exceed 9 times the
cost of investment whereas, inaction is at least 3 times more
costly than ecosystem restoration.

The question is, where do you stand?

~ Environment Club