WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY: Everyone has role to play in environment protection — Rio

Dimapur, June 4 (EMN): Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio has asserted that climate change as a result of human-inflicted damages to the environment is a very real issue which requires the concerted efforts of the people of all nations.

In a statement issued on the eve of World Environment Day, which falls on June 5, the chief minister said that Nagaland is proud to be a part of this global movement. “Every nation or state, no matter how large or small in population and size has its own role to play.”

Rio expressed happiness over Nagaland banning single-use plastic since December 1, 2018 in response to the government of India’s call for single-use plastic free India by 2022 and last year’s World Environment Day theme ‘beat plastic pollution’.

“We still have a long way to go but with concerted efforts from all stakeholders, we are ensuring that single-use plastics are eradicated. The state department of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, on 22nd May 2019 inaugurated the first plastic-free nursery in Kohima which uses cloth bags instead of plastic pouches to raise saplings.

“The department is working extensively to provide more forest/green cover to the state under various programmes and schemes like the National Afforestation Programme (NAP), Nagaland Forest Management Project assisted by JICA, and Biodiversity and Community Conserved Area Management, an Indo-German Financial Cooperation project financed by KfW, Germany,” he said.

The chief minister was hopeful of those efforts bearing fruit in order to beat air pollution to a significant extent. This year’s theme is ‘air pollution.’

Rio reminded that the United Nations Environment Programme has listed air pollution as the cause of more than 6 million deaths every year or 1 in 9 deaths. “It estimates that 92% of people worldwide do not breathe clean air while air pollution costs the global economy $5 trillion every year in welfare costs. Ground-level ozone pollution is expected to reduce staple crop yields by 26% by 2030. This is the biggest environmental health risk of our time. “The efforts to mitigate harmful effects of air pollution are a herculean task but it is not impossible. It requires the commitment and consistency of every individual citizen and the nations in the global village to combat this hazard,” he said.