World Nature Conservation Day, observed every year on July 28, raises awareness about the importance of protecting the environment, including the plants and animals, and rethinking how we use natural resources. The Day is not only about focussing on the present scenario but also about the future generation. Taking care and cognizance of one’s actions is important for nature.

It provides us with all the essentials required for sustaining life, supports ecological balance, is a resource provider, and more. The Day recognizes the importance of a healthy and well-functioning environment which is critical for sustaining a stable, productive human society. It also underlines the need for preserving the environment for posterity. World Nature Conservation Day 2020 Date and History: Know Significance of the Day Celebrated to Raise Awareness About Conserving Natural Resources.

Cut down plastic use Cutting down on plastic use is a way of conserving nature. Nature already faces the threat of climate change, resulting in extreme flooding in certain places, an extreme heatwave in another place, possible extinction of many plants and animals, food crisis, weather transition, and more. The impact of carelessness is resulting in a million different ways on nature.

Plastics are among those careless actions that are having a detrimental impact on nature. Plastic is also being used on a very large scale globally. Single-use plastics typically used once require hundreds of years to break down. Mostly dumped in landfills, these plastics slowly degrade to become microplastics, that continue to pollute the environment.

The remaining plastic waste is often burned to create energy, causing toxic emissions that enter the environment as litter. According to the United Nations, much of the plastics produced today are designed to be thrown away after first use. According to the United Nations data, since the 1950s, the production of plastics has outpaced that of almost every other material.

In 2015, 400 million tonnes of plastics were produced in the world, of which 36% constituted plastic packaging. Moreover, the total plastic packaging waste accounted for 141 million tonnes in 2015. India has already banned single-use plastics from July 1, 2022.

Under it, the manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale, and use of identified single-use plastic items, which have low utility and high littering potential, have been banned all across the country under the notified Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules, 2021.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 28, 2022 10:11 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).