Today, April 22, is celebrated in many countries as the Mother Earth Day. The holiday was designated by the UN General Assembly in 2009. The term “Mother Earth” reflects to the relationship between the planet, its ecosystems and the man.
The International Mother Earth Day was proclaimed to draw attention again to the global problems besetting our planet, including the devastating human impact. This year, as part of the Mother Earth Day celebrations, the UN will focus on the problem of the spread of infectious diseases across the planet.
“Climate change, anthropogenic changes in nature, as well as intolerable activities detrimental to biodiversity, such as cutting down of woods, changes in land use, introduction of intensive agricultural and animal husbandry methods, poaching, are likely to raise the threat of infectious diseases becoming transferred from animals to people (zoonotic diseases), as was the case with COVID-19.
UN data ascribes animal origin to 75% of novel infectious diseases that occur among people once every 4 months. This shows a close link between human, animal and environmental health,” says the United Nations report.
Mother Earth Day was first celebrated in 2010, designated by the UN as the International Biodiversity Year. This way experts wanted to once again emphasize the importance of taking care of the health of our common home.
It is known that in the history of life on our planet, biological diversity has experienced long periods of development, sometimes interrupted by mass extinctions; there were five great extinctions in total. Today, estimates of the number of species on Earth vary greatly. It is known that about a million species of animals and plants are currently threatened by extinction. Meanwhile, more than 7.7 billion people live on Earth and depend on its biosphere and natural resources for their survival.
International Mother Earth Day is celebrated annually in 192 countries of the world by more than a billion people. The holiday is coordinated by the non-profit Earth Day Network.
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