Final Chance to Stop a Climate Catastrophe
On the eve of the World Environment Day, June 4 2021, the United Nations Secretary General António Guterres launched “an unprecedented effort to heal the Earth” in the middle of the most alarming environmental threats to biodiversity loss, climate disruption, and escalating pollution.
Mr. Guterres mentions that the planet is reaching a point of no return where the ecosystems that support our societies are being destroyed. He mentions that human’s degradation to the natural world is destroying the food, water, and resources needed for survival putting the well-being 3.2 billion people under threat.
One of the approaches mentioned towards protecting the planet is the contribution to achieving all the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Through this, millions of new jobs will be created by 2030, eliminate poverty and hunger, and save the environment.
The UN chief described the decade of restoration as “a global call to action” that will bring political support, scientific research and financial strength together to increase restoration and ensure a better future. He also indicated that the next 10 years are “our final chance to avert a climate catastrophe, turn back the deadly tide of pollution and end species loss”.
Living in a safe, healthy, and sustainable environment is seen today as a “Human Right, as pointed out by UN independent human rights experts. He also added that “The lives of billions of people on this planet would improve if such a right were adopted, respected, protected and fulfilled”. Moreover, it is seen that putting human rights at the heart of saving the environment, all measures, actions, and preventions will be considered to transform the world to a better future.
