Spiritualist Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev calls for united fight against desertification

Spiritual leader Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev on Thursday asked all elected governments and citizens globally to speak in one voice to ensure that leaders make ecology a mainstream issue.

The founder of Isha Foundation, a non-profit, spiritual organisation, said, This is not about you or me. In this generation, if we dont act, were not worthy, thats all it means. He said this while speaking at a webinar to commemorate World Day to Combat Desertification being observed on June 17 every year.

If other nations do nothing about ecology, they may still survive and do well. In this country, if we dont act now, we will leave the nation in a disastrous situation because our pressure on the land is unbelievable," he said.

"Most people don't understand to what extent we have exploited the land, and how it actually translates to human life and that of the soil," a press release quoting him said.

'Nature-based solutions to combat desertification' was organised by the foundation in association with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change.

Representative of IUCN-India Vivek Saxena, while introducing the topic, spoke on the immediate need to address desertification across the globe, which threatens food security, habitat and livelihood. June 17 is annually observed as World Day to Combat Desertification.

This year, it was marked by several online events where heads of state and civil society organisations came together to explore how policy formulation can reverse desertification globally.