By María Josefina Arce
June is a month with several international conferences that invite us to reflect on the necessary care of the animal and plant wealth that the planet treasures, which currently, however, is on the verge of a climate catastrophe due to the irresponsible actions of man and that puts biodiversity and life in general at risk.
The month opens with International Environment Day, which has been celebrated on June 5 since 1973 to raise awareness among the world's population about the importance of caring for ecosystems and promoting respect for the environment.
This year the event takes place under the motto "Our lands, our future", which seeks to focus action on land restoration, against desertification and resilience to drought.
The UN has warned that although the degradation of this resource has been occurring throughout history, the pace has accelerated in recent times.
Data from international organizations show that up to 40% of the world's lands are degraded, which affects millions of people in various latitudes and endangers their food security.
The outlook is not very encouraging, if we take into account that every second an area of healthy land equivalent to four football fields is degraded. Therefore, experts point out, the loss each year is 100 million hectares.
This situation is most alarming in Africa, followed by Asia and Latin America, but it is a problem that already affects southern Europe as well.
Urbanization and activities such as agriculture, mining and livestock farming affect this panorama, in which climate change, a reality that the world faces today, also plays an essential role.
Climate change has precisely altered precipitation patterns and the entire water cycle, causing severe droughts, which lead to the degeneration of land areas.
Worryingly, the number and duration of dry periods have increased by 29% since 2020, according to specialists, and the situation could worsen and affect more than three quarters of the world's population if urgent measures are not adopted. .
How does the world get to this June 5? That's a question that we should all keep in mind and take advantage of this International Environment Day to begin to responsibly protect the planet we live on and not let it remain just another day.
