Harmony with Nature and Sustainable Development

International Bio Diversity Day: May 22

- DR. PARVEEN KUMAR*

The theme this year for the International Biodiversity Day celebrated all across the globe on May 22 talks of two very important things.

One is maintaining harmony with nature and second is Sustainable Development. Infact the first one is complimentary to the second one. Sustainable development is not possible unless and until we maintain harmony with nature. Harmony with nature simply means our actions should not interfere with natural food chains, biomes and ecosystems. Our activities should not lead to degradation of our natural resources, loss of bio-diversity and threaten the very existence of life on this planet. Sustainable development on the other hand caught the attention of world community only after 1983 when the United Nations established the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), also called as 'Brundtland Commission' named after its chair, Gro Harlem Brundtland, It was an initiative to address global environmental and development issues. The commission's key contribution was defining the concept of 'sustainable development' as 'a development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs'.