Raising awareness about environment protection
Saturday, 7 November 2009
Anirudha Alam
Human existence on earth depends critically on maintaining a sound global environment. But the environment is degrading because of overpopulation, unplanned urbanisation, pollution, decrease of cultivable land, deforestation, global warming, use of pesticides, unsustainable agricultural and fishing practices, over-consumption, mishandling and mismanagement of wealth, sky-rocketing corruption, illiteracy & ignorance, abject poverty in the Third World, militarisation and wars, and so on.
Environmental degradation is being accelerated by human beings. The human race is thus endangering their existence. The First World, addicted to consumerism and desperate to maintain an environmentally unsustainable high growth rate, is the main culprit.
Protecting environment is one of the flagship components of sustainable development. The United Nations Conference on Human Environment held in Stockholm in June 1972 was the first global conference to highlight the issue that environmental concerns had increasingly become the subject of mainstream socio-economic policies and strategies. The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) held in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992 was the second major global conference in the field of protecting environment. This conference recognised that sustainable development should integrate environmental issues. For sustainable development, developing human resources is one of the main preconditions. Awareness building through training-oriented activities on different social issues, like environmental preservation, may transform unskilled human resources into skilled human resources for maintaining environmental soundness in innovative ways. Courtyard meetings, community conventions, workshops, orientation courses etc. help develop awareness-building.
Environmental degradation is aggravating natural calamities like flood, tornadoes, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, hurricanes, landslides, avalanches, tsunamis, draught, and arsenic contamination. For example, it was discovered in the 1990s that many shallow tube wells in Bangladesh got contaminated by arsenic. The World Bank estimates that 25 per cent of the country's 4 million wells may be affected by arsenic. The people of some parts of Bangladesh are suffering from arsenic problem. But most of them do not know how to cope with such kind of environmental disaster. The government has passed the Environment Conservation Rules 1997. But few people know about the rules and regulations to protect the environment. People's lack of information, knowledge and their ignorance about technology increase the scope of environmental degradation.
Training-oriented activities among the people can prepare them to better face environmental disasters. Throughout their life, the people should learn how to contribute to the improvement of the environment. Training courses arranged by government and non-government organisations on issues of environmental conservation may address causes and consequences of endemic poverty, overcrowding, food crisis and food insecurity, extreme weather, loss of biodiversity, acute and chronic medical illnesses, release of genetically modified organisms and toxics, war & human resource abuses. Specific suggestions for action may be discussed and well-defined guidance should be provided in the training sessions. According to the findings of a research carried out recently by Rainbow Nari O Shishu Kallyan Foundation, disadvantaged people may get proper messages and learn necessary skills to preserve the environment easily and effectively through training in the form of participatory rural appraisal (PRA).
The writer, Deputy Director (Information & Development Communication) & Trainer BEES (Bangladesh Extension Education Services), can be reached at: E-mail: anirudhaalam@yahoo.com
Human existence on earth depends critically on maintaining a sound global environment. But the environment is degrading because of overpopulation, unplanned urbanisation, pollution, decrease of cultivable land, deforestation, global warming, use of pesticides, unsustainable agricultural and fishing practices, over-consumption, mishandling and mismanagement of wealth, sky-rocketing corruption, illiteracy & ignorance, abject poverty in the Third World, militarisation and wars, and so on.
Environmental degradation is being accelerated by human beings. The human race is thus endangering their existence. The First World, addicted to consumerism and desperate to maintain an environmentally unsustainable high growth rate, is the main culprit.
Protecting environment is one of the flagship components of sustainable development. The United Nations Conference on Human Environment held in Stockholm in June 1972 was the first global conference to highlight the issue that environmental concerns had increasingly become the subject of mainstream socio-economic policies and strategies. The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) held in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992 was the second major global conference in the field of protecting environment. This conference recognised that sustainable development should integrate environmental issues. For sustainable development, developing human resources is one of the main preconditions. Awareness building through training-oriented activities on different social issues, like environmental preservation, may transform unskilled human resources into skilled human resources for maintaining environmental soundness in innovative ways. Courtyard meetings, community conventions, workshops, orientation courses etc. help develop awareness-building.
Environmental degradation is aggravating natural calamities like flood, tornadoes, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, hurricanes, landslides, avalanches, tsunamis, draught, and arsenic contamination. For example, it was discovered in the 1990s that many shallow tube wells in Bangladesh got contaminated by arsenic. The World Bank estimates that 25 per cent of the country's 4 million wells may be affected by arsenic. The people of some parts of Bangladesh are suffering from arsenic problem. But most of them do not know how to cope with such kind of environmental disaster. The government has passed the Environment Conservation Rules 1997. But few people know about the rules and regulations to protect the environment. People's lack of information, knowledge and their ignorance about technology increase the scope of environmental degradation.
Training-oriented activities among the people can prepare them to better face environmental disasters. Throughout their life, the people should learn how to contribute to the improvement of the environment. Training courses arranged by government and non-government organisations on issues of environmental conservation may address causes and consequences of endemic poverty, overcrowding, food crisis and food insecurity, extreme weather, loss of biodiversity, acute and chronic medical illnesses, release of genetically modified organisms and toxics, war & human resource abuses. Specific suggestions for action may be discussed and well-defined guidance should be provided in the training sessions. According to the findings of a research carried out recently by Rainbow Nari O Shishu Kallyan Foundation, disadvantaged people may get proper messages and learn necessary skills to preserve the environment easily and effectively through training in the form of participatory rural appraisal (PRA).
The writer, Deputy Director (Information & Development Communication) & Trainer BEES (Bangladesh Extension Education Services), can be reached at: E-mail: anirudhaalam@yahoo.com