The environmental issues and problems that are prevalent today such as pollution, degradation of biodiversity resources, climate change and global warming cannot be taken lightly by the average person. This is because these issues have caused a lot of harm not only to human life, but also to other living creatures such as plants and animals. Therefore, the issue of environmental destruction and decline of biodiversity resources should be among the important agendas that need to be given serious attention by all parties, not least the world community.
If we look at the issue of environmental degradation such as climate change and global warming, each of us needs to be made aware that this is not a natural phenomenon. On the other hand, it is the result of the behaviour and actions of a few who are more concerned with worldly profit alone, greedily exploiting the environment and all the biodiversity resources without limits, which ultimately disturbs the balance and sustainability of nature. It cannot be denied that we are unable to prevent global warming from continuing, but we still have the sense and wisdom to find the best solution to control this problem from getting worse within a short period of time.
It is not too late for us to mobilize our energy and take the appropriate proactive steps to deal with issues of environmental degradation and destruction that occur every day. Thus, each of us needs to play our respective roles by changing our way of life to be more environmentally friendly or sustainable. This matter is important and needs to be taken seriously by each of us so that the global warming situation does not become critical. If efforts to deal with it are not made, we do not know what will be the impact of global warming on the environment and the future generation.
As seen in the Sustainable Development Goals 2030 (SDG2030), ‘Climate Action’ is the 13th sustainable development goal that suggests immediate action to be taken to combat climate change and the adverse effects resulting from the phenomenon. In fact, the Global Risk Report 2020 by the World Economic Forum (WEF) also placed the failure of mitigation and adaptation actions against climate change as the most important threat facing the world today. Likewise, the latest report issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) also asserted that drastic changes at an urgent rate need to be made to address the issue of global warming by reducing the content of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
It was found that climate change and global warming have caused the loss of biodiversity resources and deterioration of ecosystem diversity. The United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity has concluded that an estimated 150 species go extinct every day. Land clearing activities and extensive exploration of forest areas, excessive exploitation of biodiversity resources and water and air pollution have been identified as the cause of the extinction.
The plantation and agriculture sector also contributes to the loss of biodiversity resources and the destruction of ecosystems, for example many forest areas are cut down and reclaimed to make way for the plantation and agriculture sector. Thousands of hectares of forest areas have been illegally encroached and logged without paying attention to reforestation activities to maintain the balance. This has contributed to the occurrence of various environmental problems such as landslides, pollution of water sources and widespread flash floods. According to a report released by the United Nations in February 2019, the loss of land, crops, trees and pollinating agents such as birds, bats and bees have caused a decline in the world’s ability to produce food.
In fact, it is expected that the negative effects of climate change cannot be avoided until the next few decades, and the mitigation measures taken are only aimed at reducing the impact of the phenomenon. Imagine, what will happen if no mitigation measures are implemented? Surely the earth’s natural system will not be able to adapt to the effects of climate change. At this stage, any adaptation action taken will certainly involve very high social and economic costs. It is high time the issue of climate change needs to be addressed more holistically so that it does not have a worse impact in the future.
Islam has given a clear warning in the Qur’an so that we do not do damage on the earth as in surah ar-Rum, verse 41 which means: “Corruption has spread on land and sea as a result of what people’s hands have done, so that Allah may cause them to taste the consequences of some of their deeds and perhaps they might return to the Right Path.” From this verse, it clearly gives an impression that all the damage and disasters that occur are a reminder to us to improve ourselves in a better direction so as not to repeat the same mistakes to the environment.