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Letters | On World Environment Day, profligate Hong Kong must reflect on its role in the ecological crisis
- In the wake of the UN report on biodiversity, Hongkongers must be more attuned to how their behaviour, such as a meat-based diet, affects the planet
- The government must step up its efforts to craft and implement a policy on sustainability
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Today is World Environment Day and I urge everybody to pledge to go green for Planet Earth. Just a month ago the United Nations released a report on biodiversity that highlights the accelerating threat of extinction to 1 million plant and animal species. It calls on decision-makers in government and business worldwide to steer us away from this unsustainable path.
The report also reveals many other pressing issues including climate change, forest destruction and plastic pollution that deserve serious attention, arguing that the world must make “transformative” changes immediately.
The report says global crop production has tripled since 1970. Nevertheless, over 800 million people are still undernourished. Tragically, according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation, around one third of all food produced worldwide goes to waste.
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Food production uses a lot of natural resources, such as water, energy and unpolluted land. But now these resources are either in increasingly short supply or contaminated by pollution. Food and water are the basic supports not just of life but of economic viability.
Humans live in a fragile environment where every species has its specific role to play in keeping the ecosystem in balance. For instance, food crops require pollination. But insects, such as bees and butterflies, are rapidly vanishing and this will retard pollination and eventually reduce crop yields.
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