Earth Day 2021: Nature Economics And Conserving Sustainable Resources Will Help To 'Restore Our Earth'

During this time of crisis when all of us are praying to recover, we have two paths we can take. One to return to how we lived and worked before the pandemic. The other is to build sustainable recoveries, that focus both on economic growth and a green revival.

The world is celebrating 'Earth Day 2021' in this unprecedented time when everyone has been affected by the Coronavirus pandemic. The theme for this year's Earth Day is inspired by the events the human race witnessed in 2020 when people were locked behind closed doors and nature was healing itself. 

The most important thing we learned from 2020 and this year amid the Covid crisis is the importance of interconnectedness. Lockdowns were announced and we remained inside our homes hoping the world to be as it was. While we survived on technology, the world witnessed how the environment recovered from the impact of human activity.

The world is again facing harsh times and all of us are praying to recover soon but we have two ways to restore the earth now- One to return to the lifestyle of the pre-Covid world and the other is to build sustainable recoveries, that focus on green revival and most important economic growth.

In response to the economic fiasco in the post-COVID world and low sustainability index owing to disharmonious human-nature interaction in the Indian ecosystem, the Balipara Foundation, Founded by Ranjit Barthakur. Based in Assam, is building self-sufficient enterprises for the rural ecosystem based on the principle of natureonomics and circular economy. 

This year’s theme for Earth Day is ‘Restore Our Earth’ and Balipara Foundation with its conservation efforts, on-ground impact seems to be doing just that for a region largely neglected by the mainland but having the potential to change the economics of the country through a model of Nature economics harnessing traditional knowledge of indigenous people to conserve nature and use natural resources Ethically, sustainably to increase incomes.

Founder of Balipara Foundation, Ranjit Barthakur is a social entrepreneur, committed to pursuing social change through innovative cutting edge concepts, ecological neutrality and impactful action. He has pioneered the concepts of Naturenomics and Rural Futures, with a view to inspiring community-based conservation and
livelihoods in the Eastern Himalayas. Though his journey began with ITC Mumbai, his heart and soul has always been in Assam.

His organization has currently 4 pilots being executed in Assam and Assam’s border areas with Bhutan and  Arunachal Pradesh, indicate success using measures of community involvement, ownership,  biological indicator reoccurrence, and immediate benefits to economic mobility. They are also being used to create a road-map for implementation across the Eastern Himalayan realm – from eastern Nepal to northern Myanmar – and along with this the creation of a framework for delivering universal basic assets that can be implemented in any geography with humans &  land.

This framework has also been used as a model of rehabilitation of militants in the  Udalguri area of Assam – prone not only to militancy but also to severe ecological threats and unique biodiversity.  

While the Balipura Foundation biodiversity conservation and advocating for socio-economic equality for communities in the region, we all have to do our part to make it a better place to live on

Restoring the planet in times of crisis, environmentalists across the world are urging for a call to action to conserve what we have and use our natural resources in a sustainable manner. It's often said that the Earth has enough for man's need but not enough for his greed! Let's be cognizant of this, at all times.