Mother dearest, mother fairest

The Popular St. Francis of Assisi, whose movie “Brother Sun, Sister Moon” turned into one of the best and most loved film ever made, says, “Praised be You, my Lord, through our sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us, producing varied fruits with coloured flowers and herbs.” American Gaudiya Vaishnava guru, community-builder, activist, and author Radhanath Swami says ‘We should honour Mother Earth with gratitude; otherwise, our spirituality may become hypocritical.’ Tibetan Buddhist leader, the Dalai Lama says, peace and the survival of life on earth as we know it are threatened by human activities, which lack a commitment to humanitarian values. Destruction of nature and nature’s resources result from ignorance, greed and lack of respect for the earth’s living things.

The United Nations goes beyond these sentiments when next month it celebrates International ‘Mother Earth Day’ on the theme “When Mother Earth sends us a message.” In a statement the UN says Mother Earth is clearly urging a call to action. Nature is suffering. Oceans filling with plastic and turning more acidic. Extreme heat, wildfires and floods, have affected millions of people. Even these days, we are still facing COVID-19, a worldwide health pandemic linked to the health of our ecosystem.

According to the UN, Climate change, human-made changes to nature and crimes that disrupt biodiversity, such as deforestation, land-use change, intensified agriculture and livestock production or the growing illegal wildlife trade, can accelerate the speed of destruction of the planet. 

This is the first Mother Earth Day celebrated within the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. Ecosystems support all life on Earth. The healthier our ecosystems are, the healthier the planet - and its people. Restoring our damaged ecosystems will help to end poverty, combat climate change and prevent mass extinction. But we will only succeed if everyone plays a part.

For this International Mother Earth Day, let us remind ourselves - more than ever - that we need a shift to a more sustainable economy that works for both, the people and the planet. Let us promote harmony with nature and the Earth. 

The report “Making Peace with Nature: A scientific blueprint to tackle the climate, biodiversity and pollution emergencies” translates the current state of scientific knowledge into crisp, clear and digestible facts-based messages that the world can relate to and follow up on. Get to know the current status of the world’s urgent issues and opportunities to solve them.

The UN warns that the planet is losing 4.7 million hectares of forests every year – an area larger than Denmark. A healthy ecosystem helps to protect us from these diseases. Biological diversity makes it difficult for pathogens to spread rapidly.

It is estimated that about one million animal and plant species are now threatened with extinction.
If examples are needed what of what mothers could do, here is one. Climate activist Archana Soreng belongs to the Kharia tribe in Odisha, India. Indigenous communities like hers make up only 5% of the world’s population. But they protect more than 20% of our planet’s land and 80% of its biodiversity. 

She says, “Over the years, generations of us indigenous communities have been told that we are under-developed, we are savage, we are backward because of our own traditions, because of identities, because of our cultures. It is only now that over the years, we see that the rights of indigenous people, the perspective of indigenous people are being respected which is also incorporated in the reports of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC),” she adds, referring to the science-backed report of the IPCC that for the first time in 2019 recognized the vital role indigenous communities play in preserving ecosystems and forests. 

We all have a role in climate action. We must work together to meet the commitments of the 2015 Paris Agreement. But... what is exactly climate change and what does the Paris Agreement say? What actions are being taken and who is carrying them out? What are the latest scientific reports on the subject? Are we in time to save Mother Earth? 

Last year, Sri Lanka declared itself bankrupt due the debt crisis and the rising rate of the dollar in relation to the rupee - a crisis which brought about one of the biggest increases in the cost of living with millions of people struggling to find food, shelter, clothing, healthcare and educational needs. But on Monday night we saw the beginning of what would hopefully be a transformation when the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved the extended fund facility of US$2.9 billion. The first tranche of nearly US$390 million came on Tuesday. We hope President Ranil Wickremesinghe and the Government would give priority to climate change issue.