Novanita Sharma, Editor(The Seed)
The fateful year 2020 finally made its exit, the world ushered the new year with renewed hope and enthusiasm. Nothing in this world is permanent, this uncertainty which almost every human being dread is the order of our world. Everything changes, whether desirable or not; the dawn of 2021 is the most awaited change the human world ever aspired for in the recent times after the tumultuous 2020. The year 2020 brought human world to the realization of its vulnerability. The pride of modern human being been challenged by an invisible and mere miniscule of life form, a kind of life form whose existence otherwise is completely discounted by the megalomaniac human thinking. Everyone across the world pensively awaited an end to the quagmire, the end of year 2020 brought in the fresh breather of hope into our world. Change takes over inevitably; change is the true essence of life. The Covid 19 pandemic taught us all about the beauty of impermanence. No matter how far human beings spread the wings of technology, no matter how big is our pride for being the most prolific species; Nature reigns supreme. We are equally vulnerable to the uncertainties of Nature as any of the billion living beings of this planet. Human beings are endowed with an advanced brain, we are gifted with the most sophisticated entity of this living world which is known as ‘mind’. Our advanced cognitive and emotional capabilities set us apart from all other species of our planet. Our thoughts, our imaginations determined our successful tenure in this planet so far, but the most powerful human faculty, ‘our mind’ tends to obscure our vision at times, giving us a false notion of indispensability. Earth and the billions of life forms living on this planet don’t rely upon us for their survival, rather we the human beings, the most pompous of all living beings rely upon Nature and the resources of this planet to sustain our civilizations, to continue our modern overconsuming lifestyles on this planet. The uncertainties of 2020 definitely shook us, but we ought to introspect upon our learnings. Did we finally learn anything from this pandemic, are we able to consider ourselves as a part of Nature and have our governments been able to take decisive steps towards making ecological well-being an integral part of Nation building. This pandemic which cost the lives of millions of people across the globe, ransacked our economies, shattered the pride of the wealthiest Nations ought to be an eye-opener; and if it isn’t then we should be prepared to count our days of glory because those who fail to learn, those who fail to adapt must get eliminated in due course of time. This is the law of Nature.
The year 2020 has been an unusual year; predominated by clout of a pandemic, the planet also witnessed countless environmental crisis. The planet withstood massive forest fires starting from the Australian bush fires to the Amazon fires of 2020. A year of unprecedented environmental discrepancies however provided the human populations across the world a rare chance to breath cleaner air, at times sight birds in the urban skyscape. In many parts of the world, the jet sped humanity forced inside their houses finally came to realise the beauty of slowing down though amidst the fear of a looming pandemic. Air pollution levels in several major cities of India fell, due to less vehicular traffic during the lock down months. Many people sensed the beauty of Nature and many others felt the healing of our planet while we shut ourselves within our four walls. Human world made a unique journey through these 12 months of 2020. In Assam, people woke up to the advent of the second phase of rainforest conservation movement in 2020. This year added a digital edge to the rainforest conservation movement of Assam with the successful #Complete_DehingPatkai-WLS_500sqkm campaign which trended in social media. This second phase of rainforest movement reiterated the need to expand the area of the 111.19sqkm Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary to include 500 sqkm of contiguous tropical rainforest of Dibrugarh – Tinsukia districts of Assam for its protection and future conservation. The rainforest conservation movement of Assam led by Nature’s Beckon since 1994 is a unique conservation initiative for the protection of 500sqkm of contiguous tropical rainforest of Upper Assam; spanning for more than 2 decades this conservation movement eventually led to the creation of Dehing Patkai National Park in December 2020. The State Government of Assam created Dehing Patkai National Park by notifying an area of 231.65sqkm of the contiguous tropical rainforest including the entire area of pristine Jeypore rainforest in its ambit. The upgradation and area expansion of Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary to Dehing Patkai National Park along with the complete protection of Jeypore rainforest definitely brings a jubilant end to the year 2020. The protection of Jeypore rainforest is a huge success for the rainforest conservation movement of Assam. This movement for the complete protection of 500sqkm of contiguous rainforest will continue, the creation of Dehing Patkai National Park renews hope and determination of the green crusaders to carry on with their campaign further.
The beautiful Eastern Himalayan wilderness, the views of gurgling rivers flowing down the emerald mountains of North-eastern India to the fertile valleys in downstream remains an unforgettable experience for anyone who witnessed this timeless natural beauty. The Himalayan glaciers feeds the beautiful rivers of North-eastern India, along with several other major rivers of Asia. These rivers originate in Tibet, the highest plateau of the world, also called the rooftop of the world. From one of such Himalayan glaciers in the Tibetan plateau flows a river which is known as Tsangpo in Tibet, Siang in Arunachal Pradesh and is known to all in Assam as Brahmaputra. This river provides life support to millions of life forms including a huge population of human beings all across its course. It makes the economic, biodiversity and cultural lifeline for one of the most thickly populated areas of Asia. The significance of Tibetan glaciers doesn’t need an introduction. But everyone needs to know about the grave situation faced by the Tibetan environment and Tibetan people under the oppression of Communist Chinese government. The Tibetan plateau has been subjected to irreparable environmental damage since its forceful occupation by the Communist Chinese regime since 1959. The fragile environment of Tibet is in a crisis situation; unabated poaching of wildlife, rampant deforestation, uncontrolled mining activities, forceful change in land use pattern, diversion and damming of rivers, dumping of nuclear wastes, etc have caused immense loss to the Tibetan environment and the aftermath of this mayhem will be faced by everyone, especially by people living in the neighbouring countries. Time is running out of our hands; it is high time for the world community to make a firm step towards rescue of the Tibetan environment. And the only way to rescue Tibet is to free Tibet from the draconian Chinese rule. While 2020 left us with learning lessons, the year 2021 began with a bold step towards gathering more strength and voice to the Tibetan cause from the banks of Brahmaputra in Assam. A unique ‘Free Tibet, voice from Assam’ stall was held from 30th December 2020 – 10th January 2021 in the 33rd Guwahati book fair in Guwahati, Assam. This ‘Free Tibet’ campaign of Assam is the boldest initiative ever raised in our country. Assam rises in solidarity with the 6 million Tibetans in their freedom struggle, a fight where truth is the only weapon, non-violence and compassion their guiding force. Freedom of Tibet is a significant environmental cause and the most important humanitarian cause of the world. Freedom of Tibet will be the greatest victory of humanity.
I wish all our supporters and readers a beautiful year ahead. Let every day of this year bring us opportunity to engage and contribute meaningfully towards the well-being of this planet. I began my year with firm resolution to commit myself towards restoration of peace in our planet, towards peace of every species, peace of every living being. Wishing everyone a peaceful year ahead.
Share: