President of India, Droupadi Murmu, recently tweeted about the critical state of the world’s oceans and the urgent need for conservation. She emphasized, “More than seventy percent of the surface of the earth is made up of oceans, and global warming is leading to a rise in global sea levels, threatening to submerge coastal areas. The oceans and the rich variety of flora and fauna found there have suffered heavily due to different kinds of pollution.”
President Murmu also highlighted the traditional wisdom of coastal communities, saying, “Fortunately, people living in nature’s lap have sustained traditions that can show us the way. Inhabitants of coastal areas, for example, know the language of the winds and waves of the sea. Following our ancestors, they worship the sea as God.”
She proposed a dual approach to tackling environmental challenges: “There are two ways, I believe, to meet the challenge of protection and conservation of the environment; broader steps that can come from governments and international organizations, and smaller, local steps that we can take as citizens. The two are, of course, complementary.”
President Murmu concluded with a call to action, urging everyone to take individual and local steps for a sustainable future: “Let us pledge to do what we can do – individually, locally – for the sake of a better tomorrow. We owe it to our children
