World Environment Day: When saving the environment becomes a threat to it

World Environment Day has once again arrived in Manipur. As expected, seminars are being organised, saplings are being planted, banners are being displayed, and officials are delivering speeches on the urgent need to protect nature.
In some places, motorcycle rallies are also organised to spread awareness about environmental protection. Nothing perhaps demonstrates our commitment to reducing pollution better than burning litres of fossil fuel to tell people that pollution is harmful.
The irony would be amusing if the environmental situation of the state were not so alarming.
For years, crores of taxpayers’ money have been spent to clean the Nambul River. Yet the river continues to resemble a drain more than a rejuvenated water body. Funds have flowed generously; unfortunately, cleanliness has not followed the same course.
Large sums have also been spent on riverbank protection, anti-plastic campaigns, awareness programmes, and environmental restoration projects. Iron cages known as plastic bottle banks have appeared at carefully selected and highly visible locations, ensuring that visitors can see evidence of environmental action. Whether the environment itself benefits remains an unanswered question.
Civil society organisations had to approach courts to stop destructive sand mining in rivers such as the Thoubal River. Even court interventions have often struggled to achieve what official environmental protection mechanisms were supposed to accomplish in the first place.
Meanwhile, hills continue to bear the scars of deforestation and extensive terracing, rivers remain polluted, wetlands continue to shrink, and forest fires return with seasonal regularity. And deforestation for plantation of poppy is evident.
The annual plantation drive deserves special mention. Every year, thousands of saplings are planted. Every year, photographs are taken. Every year, impressive figures are announced. The survival rate of those saplings, however, remains one of Manipur’s best-kept mysteries.
If all the saplings planted during World Environment Day programmes had survived, Manipur would by now be one of the greenest places on Earth.
Perhaps the greatest environmental success story in Manipur is not the protection of forests, rivers, or wetlands. It is the survival of environmental schemes themselves. Projects come and go, funds are allocated and spent, reports are prepared, and programmes are organised. The environment protection industry continues to flourish even as the environment continues to decline.
A walk around many localities, including the surroundings of Keishamthong High School, close to the Nambul River, provides a more accurate environmental assessment than a hundred seminars. The reality on the ground tells a story that official celebrations often fail to acknowledge.
World Environment Day was meant to remind humanity of its responsibility towards nature. In Manipur, it increasingly risks becoming an annual ceremony where environmental degradation is commemorated through environmental expenditure.
Perhaps next year, instead of counting the number of rallies, seminars, banners, and saplings, authorities should count the rivers actually cleaned, the forests actually protected, and the projects that produced measurable results.
The environment does not need another speech. It needs proof that someone has been listening.