NATIONAL HEALING IS A JOINT RESPONSIBILITY

Society is defined by the increase in natural and manmade disasters and emergencies that continue to be experienced on an increasing frequency. Climate change is the major culprit, especially in natural disasters. The weather condition is becoming unpredictable with the rainfall becoming an unreliable source of water for agricultural use. Rain's spatial and temporal distribution keeps on shifting, causing massive economic losses to the farmers who rely on rain-fed agriculture. When it rains, it floods, causing erosion of fertile soil to the water bodies. This is partly due to the environmental degradation caused by human activity. Trees are cut down and agriculture has become massively mechanised that the soil becomes loose and infertile. The increase in temperatures due to global warming presents a conducive environment for the breeding of pests and diseases. This affects the health of the human, animal and plant population. This shrinks the available resources affecting the ecosystem balance. With shrunken resources, an increase in human population and inadequate capacity for each person to earn a sustainable livelihood, people fall into desperation and engage in unsustainable coping strategies. This leads to stress and depression that affects the productivity of labour. The build-up imbalance in nature creates gaps whose spiral effect increases exponentially. The net effect of the imbalance is the falling standards of living, poor health, and increase in crime.

This write-up seeks to contribute to the ideas that will help to heal the situation. It is based on the thinking that the universe's problem arises from an unsustainable environment and poor health. A large component of climate change is caused by poor environmental management practices. Human activity continues to degrade the environment by clearing vegetation cover, thus affecting the ecosystem balance. The felling of trees for agriculture, wood products, and human habitation has caused damage to the ecosystem. It has deprived many other living organisms of their natural habitation while affecting the water resources. It has left an unclean environment deprived of vegetation. Human economic activities continue to degrade the environment through unsustainable waste management and pollution.

Health is another component that contributes to the imbalance of nature and is a consequence of the imbalance. The World Health Organisation defines health as a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being. The definition emphasises that health is not limited to the absence of disease or infirmity. Hence, a healthy society is peaceful and secure with the population living in harmony. A clean environment presents a healthy platform for healthy activities. Hence, the state of the environment directly affects the state of health. Under the HEAL conceptualisation, there has to be a balance in the ecosystem where predation does not lead to deprivation. Maintaining sustainable health involves the use of solutions derived from nature itself so as not to interfere with nature. Thus, human activity has to be synchronised with nature. This will promote mental health since activities will be conducted along with nature’s provisions. This will also promote social well-being because the natural balance will be maintained.

The third component of the HEAL concept in agriculture. This finds itself between health and the environment. Agriculture is among the major causes of environmental degradation. Attributed to this are practises like clearing of natural vegetation for human settlement and food production. The unsustainable clearing of forests creates ecosystem gaps that lead to disequilibrium in nature. Mechanized agriculture uses chemical compounds that kill useful microorganisms in the environment. To further boosts unsustainable productivity, livestock is treated with chemicals that boost maturity. This promotes quantity at the risk of quality. These chemicals have been found to have adverse effects on consumers of the livestock. An increase in the human population strains the resources. This is compounded by the capitalist economic policies that are characterised by cannibalism. People are no longer conscious of their neighbours. Greed has overtaken compassion thereby compromising the propensity to humanitarian action. Corruption has become endemic in a system where individuals strive to maximise material wealth at the expense of values. This deprives people of the time to take care of their mental wellbeing and building a holistic society. With the shrunken resources, employers expect too much from their employees. This approach has caused organisations to implement mechanical human resource strategies where people work extra hours to earn a living. Agriculture is the key to healthy eating, environmental sustainability, and a balanced ecosystem.

The three components will be successful if the community has the basic knowledge of the natural balance. The knowledge should be accompanied by the right attitude to act appropriately. People should be persuaded to act in a way that does not threaten any aspect of the environment, and that each person has a responsibility towards the environment. The community will act sustainably to restore the damage and promote natural healing with the appropriate knowledge and attitude. This will involve climate change mitigation and adaptation measures. Hence, the learning component is software that creates value in health, the environment, and agriculture.

Integrating the four components create a community-based disaster risk management system. Communities will be able to anticipate disasters, prepare, respond, and recover from the impacts in a short time. Hence, disaster risk reduction is the outcome rather than a set of activities.