World Environment Day was decreed by the United Nations on December 15th, 1972 and is commemorated on June 5th of each year. Its purpose is to achieve awareness among all the inhabitants of the Earth with respect to the concept of environment, being the primary objectives, to achieve a global context in motivating people to become active agents of change in achieving sustainability and equitability, promoting the fundamental role communities play in the change of attitude towards environmental issues and promoting cooperation, so that all the planets systems in all its variants are maintained in an optimal equilibrium, guaranteeing that living species enjoy a viable present and thus securing their future.
Currently, each and every one of us must reaffirm a clear position of how the generations that presently inhabit the planet can guarantee the survival and continuity of life. Assuming our individual and even more, important our collective commitment to putting an end to all those anthropic actions that destroy the environment, and in turn stimulate and actively participate in the measures of preservation, conservation, restoration in favor of our environmental issues.
Let’s see some concrete examples of how we can do to contribute to the conservation of the environment:
1) Encourage environmental education at all levels, from pre-school through basic and secondary education to university and adult and community education. This must include the realization of specific projects in the resolution of real environmental problems. Creating verifiable solutions that serve not only to give the participant of such projects a sense of pride for the work done in favor of the environment but also where the participant becomes a multiplier of the conservationist message, creating a “network” effect that connects us all and enhancing the protection of the global environment.
2) Promote sustainable agriculture, using biological controllers and non-erosive processes, reinstating traditional ancestral agricultural practices respectful of the environment, as opposed to the use of chemical, toxic and transgenic substances in crops.
3) That the wood products industries, when cutting trees in the forests proceed immediately to the replacement of those tree species in a number 10 times greater than exploited.
4) The reduction of greenhouse gases, discouraging by means of effective taxation measures, the use of fossil fuels in addition to the implementation of strict regulations for compulsory environmental engineering processes. Granting incentives to companies for the use of clean energies such as solar, water and wind, in obtaining their energy requirements.
5) Much greater supervision by the entities responsible for the fishing industry, so that the marine fauna and flora are not depredated by practices such as trawling and the capture of species banned by seasonal limitations.
6) Declare as a global priority the preservation of all the natural reserves that still exist on our planet stating them as the oxygen and genetic reserve of the biosphere as a whole. Examples of these nature reserves are the Amazon rainforest, the African savannahs, the jungles of Borneo, the Great Barrier Reef of Australia, among others.
7) That we, as citizens of the World and in an organized manner, exert pressure with the force of democracy and our vote so that all governments, especially those from the most polluting countries, recognize and sign international treaties on the environment. And in turn make of public knowledge, which are the institutions and private companies that systematically with their actions, harm and sabotage the preservation of the environment.
Costa Rica is a worldwide example of environmental conservation and ecological sustainability. Proving that it is possible to combine socio-economic development with respect for nature, showing the way to achieve an excellent living standard for its citizens, guaranteeing well-conceived progress with an integral respect for the ecosystem, this through the concerted effort between civil society and the state in specific action plans for achieving common objectives.
Let us never forget that this brilliant blue sphere floating in the vastness of the Universe is our only home. Being the repository of our existence, we are obliged to its preservation for the present and the generations to come.
