How an hour of turning off non-essential lights goes a long way toward conserving the planet

New Delhi: Earth Hour, an initiative of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), is celebrated annually on the last Saturday of March. This year, the event will be commemorated on March 27. Urges people, companies and governments around the world to turn off their lights and non-essential electrical appliances for one hour at 8:30 pm (local time), with the aim of raising awareness of the need to protect nature to build a sustainable future for all.

Human civilizations are based on the pillars of natural resources, both biotic and abiotic. As anthropogenic activities damage nature, new possibilities emerge for catastrophic environmental events and the spread of zoonoses, contagious diseases caused by animal-hosted pathogens, such as COVID-19. Scientific evidence shows that the unsustainable exploitation of nature is responsible for recent extreme weather events and the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Therefore, this year’s Earth Hour should act as a wake-up call and encouragement for all of us to reexamine our relationship with nature.

Marco Lambertini, Director General of WWF International says: “2021 is a crucial year for humanity. As the world tries to change course and recover from the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic and rebuild, we must put nature at the center of our recovery efforts to prepare our economies and societies for the future. Earth Hour is a critical time for people, leaders and environmentalists to come together and call for urgent action to reverse the loss of nature and ensure a positive world for nature by 2030 ”.

Let’s join this Earth Hour for a healthy planet

This year, let’s take the opportunity to push global policymakers to make transformative changes for biodiversity conservation and promoting sustainability to create a future of life in harmony with Mother Nature. The meetings of the United Nations Conference on Biological Diversity are scheduled to be held in China in a few months. World leaders, at these meetings, will make 10-year plans to reverse the loss of biodiversity and its harmful impact on people and ecosystems. By coming together for nature this Earth Hour, we can symbolically express our commitment to end the degradation of nature and influence the decisions that will be made at the crucial meetings of the United Nations Conference on Biodiversity.