Smita Mishra
Climate change is a complex and confusing issue, more so in a country like India, where even the ministry concerned seems to have little clue about what’s actually happening and what should be done to take care of whatever is happening on the ground.
Confused? Everyone seems to be! Our honorable Environment Minister, Mr Jairam Ramesh, knows his job, no doubt. He understands that a minister should keep talking to assure people that the ministry is working hard (are we reminded of a certain Mr Ramadoss and his hatred for tobacco…on screen…and love of being heard on media..?)
So I was not surprised when Mr Ramesh said that there is no evidence to suggest that the Himalayan glaciers are melting, on the basis of a research by V K Raina, a former deputy director general of the Geological Survey of India. I was really amused as Mr Ramesh forgot that the State of Environment Report released by him a couple of months ago says that the Himalayan glaciers are melting at an alarming rate!
I would have forgiven him for this, thinking that ministers release books, write their forewords without reading their contents, had not his leaked letter to the Prime Minister surfaced in media. It was shocking to know that an Environment Minister asks the Prime Minister to take a U-turn on the country’s long standing position on an issue so grave, merely to show proximity with the United States!
Are we in India bearing the brunt of climate change? Isn’t it a phenomenon that we may experience in 2050, or even later? For us, it is like a remote possibility that may accost us- or our children- in distant future. Global heating, melting of glaciers, devastating earthquakes, cyclones and floods appear as vague stills from big budget Hollywood flicks that can never happen in our life time.
But the truth is a bit harsher. We may be contributing very meagerly to the environment crisis, but the heat is surely upon us all.
Unfortunately, our Government does not care to enumerate facts and educate the public about truths that may become the determinants of their fate very soon.
Climate is changing in India and at a very fast pace. The reports are alarming and the results will be fatal.
Extreme temperatures and heat spells have already become common over North India. Each year is the hottest or coldest in comparison to the last few.
Increased occurrences of cyclones like Aila and Phyan have become more frequent and destructive.
Subtle changes are already being noticed in the rainfall pattern of the subcontinent. Scientists have warned that by 2050 there will be a decline in the summer rainfall with devastating effects.
Himalayan glaciers are likely to disappear within this century! The Earth temperatures have increased by nearly .76 degree Celsius in the past 100 years.
Global warming has pushed Himalayan temperatures by up to 0.6 degree Celsius in the past 30 years.
Some of the Himalayan glaciers are receding at an average rate of 10 to 15 meters per year.
If the glaciers melt, the rivers of north India will first swell and then dry up….causing desert like conditions in North India.
Gangotri glacier is shrinking at an unsustainable rate. Ganga may soon dry up.
Drying up of ancient waters bodies like Pushkar Lake is enough to suggest that all is not well with our climate.
If the temperature rises by just one degree, there will be a fall in 15.6% wheat production, 14% potato and 15.1% rice production.
An increased level of heat and CO2 level is already showing its impact on crop productivity.
50% of India’s jungles are likely to experience a shift in forest types, which will have a devastating impact on the associated biodiversity.
The sea level in Bay of Bengal is rising at an annual rate of 3.14mm, which is way higher than the global average of 2mm, threatening low lying areas which are home to 4 million people.
15 to 40% of spices will face extinction with just 2 degree rise in temperature.
By 2030 almost 30% of coral reefs will disappear.
Global warming has already made tropical diseases like malaria more dangerous and widespread. It is soon also to give birth to more deadly kinds of virus borne diseases.
Whether we admit or not, the Asian Brown Haze is very much there and we can not also deny the fact that harmful, irritating smog has become part of the big cities.
Clearly the data shows that India is already suffering from the impact of climate change. While this may not be entirely our doing and our contribution towards this climatic havoc might have been very slender when compared to Americans, we can no more escape fate now.
The good news is, the damage done is still not irreversible and we can heal the ailing climate and bring it back to normalcy.
I don’t believe in complicated international norms, ‘difficult to understand summits’ that inevitably end without a solution. Big budget, high profile meetings like Copenhagen, can never solve the problem as they will have to take into account the interests of so many nations with conflicting interests.
I think the solution is very simple and basic. First the public should be educated and also disciplined (I would not mind tough laws, if they can be a solution) to save climate and precious resources and then the government should voluntarily take all possible measures to contain the ongoing damage to the climate by making policies, laws and investments.
This must be done pronto because nature will not give us a second chance…
First Published: Saturday, December 12, 2009, 08:59