________________
JAINA CONVENTION 2017
INTRODUCTION
It is a general concern that the increasing global population in combination with concomitant rise in the lifestyle is putting enormous pressure on carrying capacity of the planet earth. Accelerated pace of urbanization, global warming due to burning of fossil fuels, industrial activities and intense agriculture including livestock are the factors contributing to these pressures. With rampant inequalities ruing the roost, the United Nations organization has formulated 8 Millennium Development Goals (http://www.who.int/topics/millennium_development_goals/ en/). Defining poverty line at as low as 1 US $ a day as per capita income is a challenge of our civilization. In this article, only two components of earth viz. ecology and environment are chosen for discussion. Since the damage and degradation of these components are mostly anthropogenic in nature, the recourse to the Jain religion as moderation is being addressed.
THE ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT
It is a standardized measure of human demand for "the amount of biologically productive land and sea area necessary to supply the resources a human population consumes and to assimilate associated waste". Alarmingly, the global human population is already exploiting the earth's ecosystem and the ecological services 1.5 times the speed with which the Earth can renew them. On an average, a world citizen has an eco-footprint of about 2.6 global average hectares as against the available 1.8 global hectare of bioproductive land and water per capita on earth. It implies that humanity has already breached the global biocapacity by 30% leading to depletion of natural capital in an unstable and unsustainable manner (http://www.footprintnetwork. org/images/article_uploads/National_Footprint_Accounts_2012_Edition_Report.pdf).
LOSS OF BIODIVERSITY
Anup Shah has succinctly captured the grim picture of loss of biodiversity and global extinctions (http://www.globalissues.org/article/171/loss-of-biodiversity-and-extinctions). It is estimated that about 27,000 species a year are being lost and 13 million hectares of tropical forest disappear in smoke and as lumber. On average, one-third of Earth's habitats have been damaged. At this current rate of depletion, we may exhaust all our resources by next 200 years making this planet barren and bereft of any life.
ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION - A GLOBAL PHENOMENON
Worldwide, environmental pollution affects the quality of life and health of our planet. Over one million sea birds and mammals are killed by pollution every year. Over a billion people, worldwide, lack access to safe drinking water. More than 3.4 million people die each year from water, sanitation, and hygiene-related causes. Nearly all deaths, 99 percent, occur in the devel
20% 30%
3
0
%
329
