Investing in environmental sustainability will act as a health and human welfare insurance policy. The environmental deterioration-the air we breathe, the food we consume, the water we drink and the habitats that sustain us – is projected to be responsible for at least one quarter of the overall global disease burden, according to a recent UNEP study entitled Healthy Environment, Healthy People. The 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) embody the general belief that a sustainable environment is central to the full enjoyment of fundamental human rights, including the rights to life, safety, food, water and sanitation and quality of life. Tackling the interrelationships between environment and human health directly provides new, interwoven opportunities to address the SDGs in a more cost-effective and beneficial way.

The appearance of COVID-19 has underscored the fact that we are undermining the framework that protects human life when we destroy biodiversity. It is estimated today that about one billion cases of disease and millions of deaths occur annually from diseases caused by coronaviruses worldwide; and around 75 per cent of all emerging infectious diseases in humans are zoonotic, meaning they are transmitted to humans by animals. Hence, nature is sending us a message.

To celebrate the World Environment Day, GRIHA Council invites you for the webinar to be held on June 5, 2020 from 2:00pm to 3.00pm.

The agenda for the event is as follow: