You inhale your first breath as soon as you come into this world. But really, would you call that breathing? To me, actual breathing was the point when I lost myself in an oasis of trees. Curious thick air was something I was not used to; I had never truly inhaled air so new. I felt as if I was back to my childhood and into the world of nature.

I could feel the warmth of my mother and her arms around me. The smell of new grass and the sound of birds tweeting made me feel alive like I had a reason. I felt like I was part of a community, an integral part of earth.

Nature was here, somewhat savage and appalling, and yet beautiful. I looked with awe at the ground I walked on. My heart knocked viciously against my ribs; my mind raced with thoughts that were not there yet. I felt like a child again, but this time it was different. My body was in a state of relaxation. I felt as though my spirit had lifted. My heart was filled with love for all life forms. I call this ‘ecosystem restoration’.

When you are in nature, you cannot help but notice how beautiful everything around you is and feel grateful for it being there.

However, this all seems, by all accounts, to be more like living in a dreamland these days. We don’t consider nature to be how it ought to be viewed as.

Now this world — rather than being covered with trees and greens — is encircled by high rises, water and air contamination, and residue that has diminished personal satisfaction and has troubled all the living souls with infectious diseases and allergies that are life-threatening.

So what’s the solution? All things considered, it’s simple. It’s a cycle that includes reconnecting with nature and re-establishing our resources to make them more effective. This is where we humans can play our part: ecosystem restoration should be possible by re-establishing existing spaces of land, water and wildlife.

Thus, this implies restoring common living space through the rebuilding of habitats, forests and other regular assets. This process takes patience, understanding of local ecology and time — but with care, it can take an injured ecosystem from barely surviving to thrive once again!

Apart from that, the other issue of water contamination is also on the rise in all major cities of Pakistan. It is caused due to paucity of our dams and water reservoirs, but this is another long topic to discuss, as for now let’s stick to the trees and forests.

The world is awakening to the revival of the ecosystem. We should all use our influence to re-establishing our connection with nature, as this will restore the balance in our life and the ecosystem. What is happening in nature is not a battle fought between two states, but between humankind and nature, and both must preserve.

Published in Dawn, Young World, May 7th, 2022