 Hello friends that's your college It's good to be with you, and I'm recording this message which you'll have been on the fifth I really really sincerely apologize for the technical problem that I had in that day and this never happened and Maybe for other reasons best known that has happened, but which I am at which end to understand the problem In any way today as we After the World Environment Day you almost have come to know about the Seam of this year's World Environment Day, which is Ecosystem restoration and the UNEP has used this hashtag become Restoration generation calling upon this generation particularly all the young people to become a generation that would Restore back the ecosystem Now I believe they all have come to know about importance and significance of of the World Environment Day house since 1972 after the Stockholm conference we have been celebrating the World Environment Day of the year and this year's Seam as I've said is ecosystem Restoration and this is also the year in which the UN decade on Ecosystem restoration has been launched. That means from this year to 2030 the United Nations will be stressing on the importance of ecosystem restoration So in this small presentation, it will be discussing about the ecosystem Will be discussing about what are all the benefits of which I would like to Stress upon that point that what all are the benefits of these of this ecosystem and it's functioning And what is the output it comes with as a byproduct of the of the ecosystem functioning and how the benefits and the services that we receive from the ecosystems and To also look into we'll next look into the Degradation and how we have been You know affecting adversely this Ecosystem and after that will look briefly at how at different levels we all as Individuals as society as institutions would be able to to help Rebuild and reclaim the ecosystem So the definition of ecosystem as you all see there are the biotech Abiotech components It's a complex of unity of organisms and the environment which you live which functions as an ecological unit So the the interactions is so complex and so interling and everything is connected to everything else from this to this to this and everything to everything else and this forms that what we call web and we're going to Understand will not be able to understand the technicalities of it But we will just see the byproducts of it and we'll talk about how this ecosystem and ecosystem Was all so we have these different kinds of ecosystems particularly the forest ecosystem the mountain ecosystem these are two of the ecosystems that you can find In states like a mega lion states like like particularly like Nagaland We have these of course with a with the dominance of the forest ecosystem. We have all other Ecosystems which are functioning as ecological units in rivers and lakes in oceans and coasts and of course we have even the desert itself which doesn't may not have the biodiversity and may not have the the Kind of variety and variability in its in its life forms, but still a very independent and very important Ecosystem in the world. We have also peatlands. These are Swarms that which are mostly you'll find a lot of carbon in in these kind of areas and it said that once one once one one one one four to one one third of the Total carbon is found in such peatlands and of course, we also have the modified Kind of ecosystems in the farmlands and the urban areas and these are very also important What we are going to talk as I've said earlier is about let us try to appreciate what this these ecosystems actually do before we even think of What what what ecosystems we will try to restore if we understand how much we actually losing By losing the these vital ecosystems then only be appreciate and perhaps With this little small talk will be able to do to actually Move to take some steps to actually restore ecosystems around us So what ecosystems actually in their functioning as they form as such ecological units? They provide us with so many benefits and these benefits are called Ecosystem services which are actually categorized into Into these different Different different categories these categories include Provisioning services such as food water timber fiber genetic resources, which you're going to look and then they there are Regulatory services which in which we see that the the earth is being regulated and the movement whole of nature Is being regulated by by nature itself and by as the byproducts of Byproducts of the Of what these ecosystems functioning are the cultural services and the supporting services When it comes to provisioning services These ecosystems actually provide us with all that we need With all that we need say let's say food Food is so important to all of us And without food it's it's impossible to live and it is said that these natural ecosystems is the you know Provide directly for at least 1.6 billion people directly those people who depend on the forest and And the those in the seas that live and depend on the fish and the and the coastal ecosystem that are there We need a word. We need that timber. We need to feel what we need to find but we need Everything that we need actually comes from these Ecosystem services and more importantly the freshwater if you look at the freshwater Whether you say Mumbai Or whether you say New York all these huge metropolitans depend on their on their water resources from from the forest. I mean most of the water from Mumbai which has crores of people comes from Tansawarabang Street comes from from the Sanjigarh National Park and We have cities like New York with millions of people living and water coming all the way maybe More than 200 kilometers 100 to 200 kilometers away from the city being brought from from the forest and they have such a beautiful system by which they have Protected the watersheds and ensure that the that the water source would be would be clean and pure with all in a natural way We have the genetic resources. We can go on about this for a long time in fact when we come when we think of of These important resources as providing these genetic genetic Data germplacent that we need when you think of green revolution and India's self sustainability in in in food production It has happened because of course we say because of irrigation because of fertilizer because of You know the mechanization but most importantly It is also because we have these these beautiful disease resistant While varieties of price and wheat which has made production possible Otherwise it would be it's so much under attack from from so so many insects and because these there are different varieties which are Which are which which made it possible to have high yielding yet still Disease resistant kind of varieties because we still have the wild varieties. We have many of the medicines that we need actually most of the of the medicines we have have their origin in the in in in the in the in the wild and in the plant in the plant and the and the animals that are around them and this in fact if we talk of it, especially with every Whatever the every species that we lose whether it's small plant or a big one Every species that we lose actually it may reduce us the possibility of finding a solution or a remedy for the friend diseases So these are the provisioning and in the regulating services Like you think of the of all that's happening. We will talk about the At a global level or talk at a local level if you look at now, especially with corona around us people gasping for oxygen Looking for we are looking for oxygen concentrators and oxygen plants and all the wild nature Through these ecosystems and providing us with the oxygen that we need the sequestering of the of the carbon dioxide Nature and the forest is still still the best lungs of the earth and because of them We are able to have what we are able to have this breathable air that we have having our disease regulations so much to talk about You know areas which have more biodiversity are less likely to have famine less likely to have Devastating attacks of of blight or insects or And these are because nature in itself has has its way of controlling By controls is still present there birds is still there butterflies is still there water regulation We have so much of droughts and floods in these these times You know, it's not that we have more rains and on our land now in India or anywhere else It's just that the water the same quantity of water that's been coming. It's not able to infiltrate into the soil It's not able to be to be regulated That's why we have we have so much of of of floods and all because everything just go as a run-off Run-off from our roofs directly into the into the water is so important courses So all these regulating service services are being provided by the ecosystems We have water purification so important waste management. These are all made possible through regulating services We have so many of the sacrifice. We have so many of the of the Elements of nature which take care even of regarding the waste the pollination we have You know nations like countries like us where people have to hire Hire a beekeeper and bring the bee artificially into their fields in order to have a better better yield and better crop Best regulation so much that is happening which I've also talked about a bit earlier It's best to being controlled by nature in a very wonderful Wonderful natural way without having to resort to pesticides and all all these are the regulating Services that our ecosystems are actually providing Spiritual and religious recreation ecotourism as you think we We who live actually near the the forest we still have plenty of of these things But think of the people living cities they spend so much just to get into a to a park to a Botanical garden and all that and how much the value How much they value these kinds of these kinds of natural? Settings and of our own inspiration educational cultural heritage we as tribals have a huge huge Culture which is based on on a natural resources based on our forest based on our other things around us and the in itk the the Indigenous technical knowledge that we have it's so rich and people are trying to learn from from from from the from the traditional knowledge that Tribals are having and other indigenous communities are having these are the Services that we get and of course the supporting services. We have soil formation soil is so important You know it takes about anything between 230 to 300 years just form one centimeter of soil and to make it even Plantable like fertile loamy soil will take thousands of years, which actually nature is providing us Nutrient cycling which is very important primary production Which is done by plants so important and all these supporting services are being provided to us by by the ecosystem by nature itself And it's so important. So all these things that we have Comes from nature which we often take for granted Where it's the water the oxygen everything that we which are very survival depend upon but unfortunately These very ecosystems the very thing that provide us so much in which a very very existence depend upon being Attacked and degraded and which we are on the path of destroying it Let's talk more about so many things so many things you have heard about what's happening to to the Greenhouse gasses in the sky what's happening to the ozone layer what's happening to the seas was happening to the mountains the loss of forest and all that Plenty of things to talk about. Let's just take this These some of the figures just a key figures that have been presented in one of the UNEP function that we had which is prior to the World Environment Day, which one doctor Barney Dixon and others have done some research and given come up with this paper Which I like to I'd like to quote some of the things that they have presented When it comes to forest about 420 million hectares converted to other land uses since only 1990 420 million hectares, it's more in the size of India. It's it's it's May be the whole of India and Pakistan together that much of Forest is lost and forest degradation could affect 1.75 billion people But that's a very serious as a very big figure Farmlands all the farmlands are being stressed and declining productivity and with declining productivity and the capacity to actually produce food would actually Have the other consequences of our very own food security that we have Oceans and coasts 66% of the ocean ecosystems are damaged So what happens when these ecosystems are damaged it affects the production of fish it affects the livelihood of the millions of people living in the coastal areas Urban areas are so stressed so stressed without and there's always a problem with safe drinking water and Basic air debris and many other things that basic human life would require and these are also very important and This this study by dr. Bani again went on to say that between 1992 and 2013 in this in this period of about close to close to 20 years You know to produce capital by produce capital. That means The industry is infrastructure that we make it has increased in these 20 years has increased by over 100% 100% so is the human capital the human capital by about say about close to 10% That means we have become more more Educated we have become more empowered. That's that's that's also wonderful, but during the same time of 20 years the natural capital the natural capital has actually decreased by 40% Has increased with 40% and this is this is very very very important for us to actually note 40% and actually we are saying that as of now We as humans are using 1.6 times and a very recent research is so is that he's gone up to 1.7 to 1.75 percent of of the actual capacity of the earth to produce To naturally produce in a sustainable manner That means we are actually supposed to take say say one lakh rupees But we are actually taking every year or every time more than 1.6 lakhs rupees and can imagine if a family live like that If I live like that, how long will be able to sustain the self and so we are really moving in a very in a very Tire dire condition condition and this therefore the restoration is very necessary Restoration is very necessary because it's very important for our own survival Food is so basic for our very existence food security If only we're able to restore the ecosystems then only our Security in terms of providing ourselves with the basic need food would be possible the global temperature as you know about global warming Without without the ecosystems being restored It would be impossible to to keep the rise in the global temperature below two degrees. That's what it says This research and it says just a degree the restoration of ecosystems would help Would help to actually prevent this this rise in the rise in the global temperature Species extinction actually forgot to mention us so much You IUCN report says that 20% of all mammals are threatened Threatened with extension one in every three amphibians 33% of amphibians are all threatened with extinction 37% of freshwater fishes are Threatened with extinction so much so much and we can do so much by simply Restoring the restoring the ecosystems we can contribute so much So all those three slides I've taken from what I've mentioned this Dr. Barney Dixon report in ecosystem restoration These are just repetitions, but I just want to show it and what I meant take away from what we see The loss in it the loss in the in the in in forests is so huge The words losing the forest and the size of the whole of North East India every We have forest fire and these are the pictures which I believe you all are very very aware of of The Zuku Valley fire this year. It's been such a serious serious fire and we all have seen what What natural disasters can do it has become not it's become a national news and Air Force and you know natural disasters Authorities have been called from From all over India and how important it is for us to actually preserve our ecosystems our population Population is so much Pollution of all kind we've all and an impact is everywhere. So it's very important that we restore our Ecosystems and this is why the world environment is very important that this is why the decade on Ecosystem restoration is very important and So the ecosystem restoration is the process of halting and reversing Whatever ecosystem has been degraded in order to improve and So that again we may have those ecosystem services Which so need we need so much in which are very survival depends upon those provisioning services those regulating services those cultural services those regulating services which we need and It can be in different forms Say from a degraded natural to a more intact natural ecosystems You have a degraded forest and try to make it more intact and it's often can be done through a system called Aided natural regeneration especially you are simply providing protection by simply You know stopping grazing stopping felling stopping interference of man The ecosystem the nature has in itself itself the capacity to recuperate the capacity to restore itself Or maybe from the great modified ecosystems to more functional Maybe with the help of an artificial artificial help of of humans It's going to take in that form too And this ecosystem restoration would help in so many ways It'll help as we have said that because of the services that being provided by the ecosystems It'll help in the health and welfare and help in food and civil security biodiversity economy and all other forms and these are a few of the of the notable points that the that the United UNEP Document has shown that just by investing four dollars US dollars per resident growing up trees can improve health of millions of people millions of people are high how filtering and by cooling air just four dollars, you know 250 rupees 250 rupees to 300 rupees would be enough to help millions millions of millions of lives When it comes to our food which I've said we depend so much in those ecosystem services Just by destroying the mangroves You know the mangroves are those forests which grow in the in the in the coastal areas They help in the in the regeneration of fish They help in the in introducing the forces of nature particularly tsunami Tsunami and all that it says that it could add 60 trillion young edible and commercially verbal fish and vertebrates to coastal waters every year By simply restoring these forests Biodiversity It's very important for us to have the all forms of life well together and live together and Contributing to the ecosystem by destroying just 15% of the converted land in right place We could avoid 60% of expected species extinction The economy itself will benefit the climate adaptation this particular Particular study which shows that in the restoration of the oyster reef the reef You know that the reefs are found like the coral reefs that are found in in in in the Ocean ecosystems This has been done oyster reef in Mobile Bay, Alabama reduced average wave height By 53 to 91% and not only that it helps in the in the production and proof and better stock of And better tourism and better fish availability and all the animal life availability And so also with climate change water We cannot Think enough of how important is for us to restore the ecosystems in order to secure to secure water And of course even in other ways as a security for all So we have seen what how important it is for us How important ecosystems are and how degraded they have been how unkind we have been to nature But what can we do coming to the end what can we do as a people what can we do as a society? We don't have many solutions as As a small people living in a corner in small corner in the north east of India in a small corner in Very insignificant place, but we can always Act locally and think locally. We've seen the global picture. It's a time for us to act Locally, so we should think global and act local. Let us look at first as a society I mean as a Khaasi, I'm very proud of my traditions and as Nagas You're very proud of your of your of your traditions. We're proud of our heritage and so also with every With every society with every tribal society and every society at large Because our traditions have always been to be one with nature We have indigenous technical knowledge We have a strength in our customs and we have always had these ethos the protection ethos And protection is always the best form of restoration. We have seen this in Konoma. How Konoma have changed that sanctuary that drug open that the kind of forest that was There was restored and And the following benefits that come from it People from all of the world come to know about it become a national attraction The tourism and ecotourism that flows from it. It benefited not only Konoma, but even all the other communities nearby So anything that the community can do Especially in a society it is going to really work And I really believe that as a society if you think if you can do something for nature to restore the ecosystem That is the best solution and and Nagaland has proved it especially in Konoma or whether it's Konoma or whether it's the the Amur Falcon and I believe that we'll see some As institutions, I believe that we really need we really can help Really can help in the ecosystem restoration to Education of the next generation, you know education that you're giving if it is a wholesome education that also includes in it I'm not just saying include as part of syllabus but more emphasis and practical things about environment Joining hands with the governments and NGOs governments are always looking for for willing institutions to come forward and work with them to make Environment education attractive and make it, you know gift rewards to students who are involved in involved environmental environmental works evolve them to appreciate multiple benefits of ecosystems and This would really help and then as students and about as individuals The best thing that we can contribute is to talk to people about forest ecosystems loss raise awareness talk make Environment and environment awareness a part of your topic in in your discussion with your friends in discussion the family Discussion when you meet only when we when we gossip about many things make it one also one of the many topics We'll plan indigenous trees very important for us to plan indigenous trees indigenous trees are very important for the support of other life forms birds local birds and butterflies and animals steps against Forest fires very important. It's really requires the community because All the forest fires 99% of forest fires at least started that people you know nothing like a natural fire As students as individuals we also can participate in local efforts We join a nature club club and then have and be proud to be able to reuse reduce recycle in whatever way you can And finally we can also green a campus. I have seen your campus in a field of pictures And I've seen particularly this tree these these this is a rock area and what I'm just trying to say is It's good to have a green campus But it'll be better if you make that campus Not just green But alive ecologically This garden is beautiful, but you will not find a single flower Which can host a bee or can host Birds can host butterflies. I mean we have so many so much of we have given so much importance to to to beauty and to being spik and span and presentable and we have forgotten what I'm Requesting you is to think even in your own compound your own campus of rewilding Rewilding our campuses you can have less attractive gardens But which can host butterflies you can have more of Areas will more of trees that are actually indigenous. We may not look it We may not be looking very very attractive But these are being used by by birds and butterflies and bees and we're very helpful for them And we're very helpful to at least sustain sustain the The the urban biodiversity that we have and maybe with these few words I just want to say thank you. Thank you for for for listening and looking through it We maybe we can reimagine recreate restore Thank you so much once again. That's a college for this opportunity I really apologize once again for what am I in about the inability to join at a fifth, but thank you and made this Maybe we'll be able to get half more opportunities to meet afterwards Thank you very much