An environment is a place where humans live and interact with other living and non-living things. Recently, the Environment has been polluted effectively due to a large population.
Still, it has been rightly said that the environment is not a property to diminish, so in the article, we present to you the 10 importance of environmental protection, which we hope will boost your initiative in caring for the environment.
Environmental Protection is the study of saving the natural environment by organizations, governments, and most especially by individuals. It is the process of safeguarding the environment by monitoring and keeping tabs on humans’ interactions with their environments and the various components in them.
Environmental protection places emphasis on finding solutions to issues emanating from the interaction between ecological systems and humans and also addresses problems such as pollution, loss of biodiversity, environmental policy, and land degradation.
Environmental protection is a subset of environmental management, it is a major tool used in managing the environment.
In this article, we discuss the important reasons why we should protect our planet and change our negative influence on it positively in the short and long term. If you want to make your everyday life more environmentally friendly in the future,
Table of Contents
10 Major Importance of Environmental Protection
It is vital to protect and safeguard the environment, as it is safe for humans, plants, and animals. According to some researchers, the importance of environmental protection is to help conserve and preserve the diversity of species that share the planet for nature’s and people’s benefit.
It is everyone’s responsibility to protect the environment and that will be possible only when humans realize their mistakes and irrelevant behavior towards the environment.
Discussed below are the major importance of environmental protection.
- Environmental Protection Increases Biodiversity and Habitat Protection
- Environmental Protection Saves Lives
- Job Creation
- Reduces Risk of Diseases
- Improves Quality and Length of Life
- Limits Global Warming
- Helps in the Conservation of Natural Resources
- Helps in Fight against Natural Disasters
- Improves Animal Welfare
- Helps to Create Positive Change
1. Environmental Protection Increases Biodiversity and Habitat Protection
In the year 2021 alone, US officials announced the extinction of more than 20 species. We need biodiversity for our ecosystems and animal kingdoms to thrive. By raising environmental protection awareness, we can enforce better preservation and conservation for the creatures and plants around us.
2. Environmental Protection Saves Lives
Environmental protection is so important because it creates rather than destroys livelihoods. It helps to ensure that essential natural resources are available to us in the long term.
Global warming, Climate change, global hunger, increasing natural disasters, polluted air, water, and soil, pesticide use in the fields, Species extinction, and crop failures are products of environmental degradation, which in turn affect human health.
For example, through the destruction of nature and deforestation of the rainforests, herbs that serve as potential herbal remedies used for the treatment of illnesses that affect human health are lost. Hence the a need to consider the environment and properly safeguard it.
3. Job Creation
Environmental protection is an essential part of the economy; however, it’s often relegated to the background for economic reasons. The number of people working in environmental protection has increased steadily, with around 2.8 million people in Germany already working in environmental protection.
With 6.4 percent of the total workforce, this sector is a major factor in our labor market. While about 14,581 work with the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
And the opportunities for employees and the self-employed continue to grow; after all, you can not build a sustainable economy on the crumbling pillars of environmentally damaging activity.
4. Reduces Risk of Diseases
Over the past two years, we have seen the severe damage that harmful environmental activities that lead to pollution of the water, air, and soil have caused. Human exposure to such contaminants in the environment leads to several diseases.
For example, drinking water contaminated by oil spills or consuming aquatic animals harvested from oil-polluted water can lead to certain carcinogenic diseases. Environmental protection can help prevent disease outbreaks and reduce the burden of disease.
5. Improves Quality and Length of Life
When all of the criteria for human life, such as food safety and shelter, are provided and maintained, length and quality of life increase.
One study examined the impact of environmental quality on life expectancy in 24 African countries. It found that an increase in environmental performance index (EPI) and ecosystem vitality (EV) increased the life expectancy of Africans by 0.137 and 0.1417 years, respectively.
6. Limits Global Warming
The gradual increase in global temperatures is not something we can outrun. However, there are specific measures that we can put in place to slow it down and find solutions.
From research, it has been discovered that Human activities are the major contributor to almost all the increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere over the last 150 years.
Just 20 fossil fuel companies can be directly linked to more than one-third of all greenhouse gas emissions in the modern era. By reducing industrial emissions and waste, organizations can vastly improve their protection of the environment and reduce the impact of global warming.
7. Helps in the Conservation of Natural Resources
Over time, natural resources have been constantly utilized at such a rate and amount that it may take time for them to replenish themselves, hence the reduction and constant depletion of resources.
The Earth Overload Day is steadily moving a little closer to the beginning of the year. It is the day of the year in which we humans have consumed more renewable resources than the earth can reproduce in the entire year.
If all people in the world were so wasteful with natural resources, we would need three earths. For example, we waste resources by consuming a lot of meat. To produce one kilogram of beef, more than 15,000 liters of water are needed for watering, cleaning stables, and growing feed. In addition, up to 25 kilograms of grain are used.
To produce one animal calorie, seven plant calories are needed. So if we simply ate the plants ourselves, no one in the world would have to go hungry anymore, despite the increasing world population.
8. Helps in Fight against Natural Disasters
A resultant effect of climate change is seen in the steady increase in Storms, droughts, and floods. Globally, the number of climate-related natural disasters has tripled since 1980. They destroy entire livelihoods and, not least, jeopardize our lasting food security.
Therefore, protecting the environment is very essential, this is to protect people as well as to have food available in the long term. The more we place ourselves above nature, the more often natural disasters will hit us in the future. We must understand that we are only a part of nature and not nature itself.
9. Improves Animal Welfare
Cheap meat in the supermarket is only so cheap because someone else pays the price for us. In this example, the animals suffer most from our everyday behavior besides humans and the environment.
For one thing, we lock cows, pigs, and dozens of other farm animals in dark, cramped cages. We feed them up, impregnate and exploit them, separate them from their children, and stuff them full of antibiotics so that they survive these ordeals.
Factory farming for our gustatory pleasure is a cruel habit that future generations will look upon with disgust. It is certainly one of the things that are absolutely out of date nowadays.
10. Helps to Create Positive Change
Environmental protection means consideration for other living beings. Not only for animals and plants but also for other people. By paying attention, discussing, learning from, and listening to each other, we improve our lives together a little more every day.
World hunger, Cruelty to animals, or Water shortages would no longer need to exist today if everyone acted responsibly. Fortunately, our society is constantly changing for the better, even if it may not seem that way when we open the newspaper.
Conclusion
Safeguarding the environment is significant because environmental degradation and reductions in environmental quality are irreversible and can be very harmful to all living things. So people have to focus on protecting the environment by implementing both technological and legislative approaches.
Also, it is essential to note that there are many steps taken by governments around the world to help save the environment. For example, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is one of the protection agencies in the United States that saves the environment and gives full support to humans to protect them from any threats.
Environmental protection is so important because we have only one planet. So let’s join hands to save the environment.
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Ahamefula Ascension is a Real Estate Consultant, Data Analyst, and Content writer. He is the founder of Hope Ablaze Foundation and a Graduate of Environmental Management in one of the prestigious colleges in the country. He is obsessed with Reading, Research and Writing.