Editorial
Endangered Environment
With severe arsenic contamination of groundwater, lead pollution of air in the urban areas, fast decimation of wetland and greenery, our environment and, for that matter, our existence is indeed endangered. What's more, there is the looming threat of global warming-induced sea-level rise that would affect low-lying developing countries like ours the most. Indeed, the blame rests squarely on the industrial nations in this regard; for our share in emission of greenhouse gas into the atmosphere is near to nothing. However, we haven't been able to make a difference in areas where we could have done so. Encroachment, and destruction thereby, of natural water body and forests goes unabated. That we have failed to bring about a reversal of the alarming trend has its roots in our collective indifference to environmental issues. Until and unless every citizen is made aware of his or her rights and responsibilities to the environment, the country stands very little chance of survival. That was the key message the speakers and participants at the two-day international conference on environment, that concluded in the capital on Saturday, tried to send across. Also, they put accent on a stronger role from the civil society in this behalf. Admittedly, we have been very slow to react to our environmental imperatives and our actions, tentative and indecisive as they are, have so far failed to make much of an impact. The question, however, remains: how do we go about retrieving the situation?
Certainly, the government won't be able to make much progress, no matter how strict relevant laws and their enforcement are, so long as the citizenry do not actively participate in the process. Towards sensitising and inspiring individuals into participation, the civil society can make a greater impact than the government. Besides, the former can also pressurise the latter into enacting new laws and amending the old ones to meet the need of the hour. Nevertheless, the primary objective of the civil society should be to educate individuals and help them put themselves in an environmental perspective, thereby inducing in them eco-friendly behaviour. The process to save the environment must be bottom-up, not the other way round. When individuals become wary of environmental concerns, it will have a chain reaction, encompassing the community, the nation, the region and eventually the whole world. Politics and bureaucracy, national and international, will then move in steps with the needs of the world population. Environment should receive our utmost attention, for environment and existence are synonymous. Such realisation must dawn on us sooner than later lest we lead ourselves willy-nilly to self-destruction.
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