WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY

INTRODUCTION

Man is part of nature. He thrives on nature's bounty. But often, in his greed and ignorance, man interferes with nature's ways causing lasting damage to nature and himself. In his own long-term interest man must learn to live in harmony with nature.

Harmony springs out of knowledge and understanding. We know very little of the inter-relationships among natural living communities like the plants, the birds, the mammals and the microbes. More defi­cient is our knowledge of the relationships between these communities and the envi­ronment composed of air, water and land. Also deficient is our knowledge of man's proper place and his role in the complex web of life. This vast canvas of enquiry is the scope of the science of ecology.

Harmony with nature also calls for restraint in man's activities that affect the environment. Man must be thrifty and not wasteful in his use of the environment. Activities which cause pollution of air, water and land and rapid exhaustion of natural resources such as minerals and forests need to be controlled.

To generate world-wide awareness of ecological and environmental problems and to encourage global, regional and national action, the United Nations General Assembly convened the United Nations Conference on the Human Envi­ronment at Stockholm, Sweden from June 5 to 16, 1972. The Conference adopted 5th June as the World Environment Day to be celebrated every year all over the world.

The Indian Posts and Telegraphs Department is happy to associate itself with the observance of World Environment Day by issuing a commemorative postage stamp.

This list was prepared by Dr. Jinadatha

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