IMPHAL, June 4: The proscribed RPF has appealed the people to step up efforts to save the environment for the future of the state as well the world on Monday on the eve of World Environment Day observance.
The World Environment Day was first started to observe on June 5, 1972 and continued for 12 straight days after the UN General Assembly came to show its consciousness about the impacts of imbalanced environment brought about by in the name of development, RPF said in a statement issued by its secretary of publicity T Leishemba.
From June 5, 1973 onwards the ‘World Environment Day’ began to observe every year. This year’s addition of the observance is under the theme “green Economy: does it include you? and that the UN Environment programme says that the important feature of green economy is to create a better way of life, to keep the environment intact to ensure equal opportunity for all.
The concept of Green Economy was introduced against the old way of commercial activities which impacted the environment. In the past few years, various negative changes have been brought in by a continual series of developmental projects and the balance of nature has been hit hard by commercial activities in the hill areas of Manipur. As a result of this, a change in the climatic condition has been experiencing including recurrent of flashfloods during rainy seasons.
RPF alleged that India has turned Manipur a poor land by its various policies which aim to obliterate its whole environment. On top of the Geneva Convention 1949, a protocol was further added in 1977 and provision for protection of environment in armed conflict situation is mentioned in the Article 35 of the Additional Protocol 1 and in the Article 55 and International Human Rights was also introduced in the Protocol for the first time.