Recently, a group of conservationists who found several dead sea animals on an Australian island lived the stuff of their nightmares. Dead whales washing ashore, turtles dying of plastic stuck in their snouts, such incidents are being increasingly reported from many beaches across the globe. Environmentalists believe that our precious and fragile marine life is ingesting plastic and fishing nets, making the flora and fauna of oceans suffer severely. It is an extremely concerning situation, threatening the safety of creatures that call planet Earth their home.
According to International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the world’s largest and most diverse environmental network, and which has a vision of ‘A just world that values and conserves nature’ – over 400 million tons of plastic are produced every year. To make matters worse, about 14 million tons of plastic reach oceans every year. Marine animals ingest or are entangled by plastic debris, causing them grave injuries and even death. This is just one example of how man-made pollution is creating havoc on the precious life our planet is endowed with.
Plastic pollution, which has taken a giant form in the last decade threatens food safety and human health among other things. Equally damaging are the other types of pollution like air pollution, water pollution, noise pollution and soil pollution. Poor air quality, unhygienic water supply, loss of ecological diversity and chemical imbalances due to these pollutions impact the environmental health of an area and consequently, the world in the bigger picture. It is because of all these rising concerns that the World Environmental Health Day is celebrated on September 26th every year. Established by the International Federation of Environmental Health (IFEH) in 2011, this day reinforces the concept of ‘human well-being dependent on environmental well-being.’ The idea is to create awareness about how the planet’s delicate environment needs to be taken care of diligently, as the survival of life depends on environmental health.
The World Health Organisation shared a report in 2016, which revealed that due to environmental issues, more than 12.6 million deaths occur each year. Further, more than 100 illnesses and injuries are directly associated with environmental health concerns globally. The theme of the year 2023 is ‘Global Environmental Public Health: Standing up to protect everyone’s health each and every day’.
World Environmental Health Day is celebrated on September 26th every year to address and advocate for the protection of environmental health.
The theme of the year 2023 is ‘Global Environmental Public Health: Standing up to protect everyone’s health each and every day’.
When we talk about environmental health, we are referring to the physical, chemical and biological condition of a particular region.
The World Environmental Health Day is an apt reminder of how the integrity and diversity of nature needs to be maintained at every cost to ensure the survival and wellbeing of human beings as well as other animals.
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