KEEPING THE EARTH IS EVERYONE'S RESPONSIBILITY

Earth Day is celebrated on April 22 every year in an effort to appreciate the earth and instill a sense of responsibility as well as raise awareness among the community to protect the earth and the environment. The celebration, which has been celebrated annually since 1970, aims to diversify, educate and drive the environmental sustainability movement around the world. This year's Earth Day Celebration is themed "Invest in Our Planet". This theme was chosen in an effort to accelerate solutions to combat the world's biggest threat, namely climate change, as well as calling on all global citizens to participate in efforts to protect the earth.

However, celebration after celebration does not make sense if the environment and its components continue to be greedily explored, polluted and destroyed arbitrarily. As a result, nature is often seen as a source of wealth, such as logging activities to obtain timber alone, showing that forests are not seen as a whole, that is, they play important and diverse ecological functions for the well-being of universal life. Rivers and seas also suffer the same fate, in which waste is thrown away arbitrarily for the sake of quick profit, rather than taking into account the importance of the river as a source of water for drinking and daily life. Thus, Mahatma Gandhi once instructed, the world is full of natural resources to meet the needs of the people but it is not enough to satisfy the greed of a handful of people and we should live modestly so that others can also live.

Although awareness and concern for the environment has become more widespread over the past five decades, human activities that damage the environment still occur. It turns out that the important message that nature is trying to convey seems to ‘fail’ to be fully understood let alone to make mankind realize all the damage that has been and is being done. As a result, the restoration of ecosystems that include land, coast and ocean has become the focus as the world faces the problem of declining ecosystems and is unable to provide services to humans and the environment. This declining habitat has had an impact on climate change, biodiversity extinction as well as global warming which will ultimately have an impact on human health and economy.

It should be noted that until the end of this year, the people of the world only have 10 years left to realize the aspirations of sustainable development which will end in 2030. As a result, we still have the opportunity to ensure that economic recovery plans are environmentally friendly including long -term investments and economic growth plans for climate projects. The fact is, biodiversity challenges and climate crises will remain even as COVID-19 transmission begins to subside.

In Malaysia, in line with the Eighth Focus in the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP) which is Accelerating Green Growth, development and economic activities should not exceed the threshold of equilibrium or stability to the detriment of the environment as well as maintaining green coverage, especially tropical forests which are treasures. which is very valuable. That series, efforts to accelerate green growth, enhance energy sustainability and transform the water sector, should remain at the core of the country's socio -economic development. In achieving that goal, all members of society should mobilize their energy and contribute time to cultivate sustainability practices for the sake of future generations. Society must contribute and not be negligent in efforts to restore the ecosystem in the country to ensure that it is always stable and conducive to human life.

Thus, the Regent of Pahang Tengku Hassanal Ibrahim Alam Shah said the action to restore the damage to nature and climate change requires immediate action and the involvement of every individual other than parties such as the government and non -governmental organizations (NGOs). He also called on more young people to take responsibility in environmental rehabilitation activities for the sake of environmental sustainability. Ultimately, society must change its function from just being an observer, because each of us has to shoulder this responsibility together because the earth belongs together. In fact, we should no longer see the environment and ecology as a side issue but should make it a key aspect in decision making if we want to avert more catastrophes in the future.

By: Prof. Prof. Dr. Haliza Abdul Rahman, Head of Laboratory, Youth Laboratory in Leadership, Politics & Citizenship, Social Science Studies Institute (IPSAS), UPM

Date of Input: 09/06/2022 | Updated: 09/06/2022 | nooryati