Doomed efforts

Having exploited their own resources, ‘developed’ nations are shopping for what countries like Pakistan have to...

Doomsday scenarios have, ironically, been around forever, with those linked to Nostradamus swinging in and out of fashion like the proverbial yo-yo, being taken with a very large pinch of salt. With the prophecies of this long gone gentleman being on an ‘out’ at the moment, the UN appears to have taken up the slack by spewing out one dire end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it warning after another, with the latest proclamation emerging from the recent UN Convention on Biological Diversity in Nagoya, Japan, telling us that we have just 10 years left to save the natural world as, after this ominous expiry date, there will be absolutely no turning back.

A torturous 18 years down the line from the famous, or infamous, Rio Earth Summit when governments agreed that global loss of precious biodiversity needed to be reigned in on an emergency basis, nothing concrete has been done about it — quite the reverse, in fact, as the loss of nature has rapidly speeded up from a very slow jog into an all out gallop towards oblivion.

The twin reasons for this abysmal state of affairs are, as always, the interlinked devils of politics and money with, also as always, ‘developing’ countries languishing on the proverbial chopping block. Having exploited their own natural resources to the brink of oblivion, ‘developed’ nations are increasingly shopping for what countries like Pakistan have to offer and, surprising as it may sound, we sit on some extremely valuable natural resources: currently undeveloped land, grains, fruits and vegetables that no one has thought to patent and an entire pharmacological range of indigenous wild plants which the outside world, multinationals heading the list, are drooling to get their greedy hands on although, to be honest, some of them have already made large inroads by placing massive orders for already endangered plant species with local companies having an eye on the financial chance, not environmental sustainability.

As scientists, politicians, conservationists and other assorted bureaucrats rattle their brains and their accounting machines during this ultra-expensive convention whose combined carbon footprint must have stomped a few more species into extinction, humanity as a whole goes about business as usual, thoughtlessly destroying the very earth, air, water and natural life that make the planet both bearable and habitable and, more to the point, neither governments nor the majority of people have any desire to alter the way they do business in order to safeguard biodiversity for future generations. Humankind is programmed from birth to be selfish: large houses full of mod-cons, large cars, holidays, fast food, more nutrition than they need if, that is, they can afford it — life for those on the ‘up’ is about status symbol all the way and for those on the ‘down’, a desperate struggle to claw themselves up and as far away from nature as they possibly can. Conventions, including this one, are a complete and utter waste of time and resources as governments, multinationals and the like are not open to being convinced to alter the way they operate unless they can increase their ill-gotten gains by doing so. Neither does the ordinary person, despite what he/she may say, really care about what kind of mess the planet, if it still exists, will be in for future generations to inherit. Sadly, all life is ‘now’ and, unless a miracle of consciousness occurs, doomsday will, eventually, arrive.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 3rd, 2010.