Addressing the climate change crisis

Mahmood Hassan

(Director, Char Areas Development, Assam. He can be reached at mahmoodhassan61786@gmail.com)

On World Environment Day this year, the Chief Minister of Assam tweeted on the creation of a new department of climate change to tackle the threat posed by ecological destruction and global warming. Rampant destruction of forest, forest resources in a state well known for its greenery and forest cover has been a cause of concern for its impact on the environment. To arrest the ever-growing crisis policymakers have to treat climate change as an area of priority to move towards sustainable development. This welcome step has been appreciated by the NGOs, environmentalists and climatologists working on nature conservation. The G 7 Summit that was recently concluded at Cornwall in the UK where India attended as an invitee expressed concern over climate change and global warming. The summit decided for infrastructure to propel global green economic growth and accelerate the global shift to renewable energy and sustainable technology.

The Intergovernmental Penal on Climate Change (IPCC) report on Climate Change states that averting a climate crisis will require a reinvention of the global economy. To reduce carbon emission the industries and vehicles need to stop burning fossils fuels, increase afforestation worldwide, promote non-conventional energy source, devise better water management policy, or reduce the usage of thermal power plants that are emitting heat-trapping greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. The trapping of the sun's heat increases the earth's atmosphere.

New temperature records have been set in many places across continents due to global warming. Last year European countries experienced a rise in temperatures that were never experienced before. Heatstroke and forest fires killed hundreds in Japan and Greece. A report prepared by the Science Advisory Group of the United Nations Action Summit, 2019 found emission of greenhouse gases has reached a 'new high', the heat waves were the 'deadliest' leading to the rise of global temperatures. The report states that Arctic sea ice has melted and declined at the rate of approximately 12% per decade during the period from 1979 to 2018. Overall the ice lost annually from the Antarctic ice sheet increased sixfold from 1979 and 2017. All these indicate danger signals that have to be dealt with immediately.

Environmentalists have already warned that if the current trend of emission of gases continues global temperatures will rise further in the next 30 to 40 years with catastrophic consequences. By the Paris Agreement of 2015, all nations agreed to bring down the temperature by at least 1 degree Celsius. The agreement has committed to reducing greenhouse gases by 13.8% against 1990 levels by 2025 and 80% by 2050. An increase in one degree will lead to disastrous consequence including the effect on crops and in the long run leading to global food shortage. European Union (EU) is committed to reducing 40% of the emission of greenhouse gases against 1990 level by 2030 whereas Sweden is committed to a 100% reduction by 2050. All the EU nations have committed to banning the use of fossil fuels by 2030.

Despite setting up achievement targets concentrations of carbon dioxide continue to rise to an alarming level in the atmosphere. Approximately 500 species have become extinct in the last century. The most surprising proof of global warming is the melting of polar ice much earlier than expected. The melting of the Arctic ice cap has helped Russia in transporting ship across the Arctic Circle from the Barents Sea to the Northern Sea Route that was previously inaccessible instead of passing through the Suez Canal reducing the distance by 8200 km. The icy sheets of Greenland and Antarctica are gradually melting away due to global warming. As a consequence, the ocean waterline has crept up by 15 to 20 centimetres since 1900 which is a direct impact of climate change. Yet nothing concrete has been done so far pushing even school going kids like Greta Thunberg to rebel against the system of governance.

In August 2018 a 15-year-old Swedish schoolgirl Greta Thunberg skipped her Friday classes to make a solo protest before the Swedish Parliament on a sudden heatwave in her country in the last 260 years. Her protest card read "Skolstrejk for climate" (School strike for climate) explaining the reason for her protest as "What is the point of going to school if there was no future". And a year later by September 2019 more than 16 million people in more than 185 countries supporting her cause joined the protest movement against global warming. Thunberg's concern is nothing less than a rebellion against the establishment as more and more people are joining the movement to save planet earth.

Tropical countries like India, China and the USA will bear the brunt of climate changes shortly as these countries are the largest emitters of greenhouse gases. Nations like the UK, Canada, France and Ireland have already declared climate emergencies. By contrast, large countries like the USA, Brazil, Australia, Canada, Japan and Mexico are not even going to participate in the event at a high level on climate change. Like ex-President of the USA Donald Trump and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro sees environmental protection as limiting his country's business interests. Global warming will drastically affect the agricultural production of rice, wheat, maize and soya. Apart from malnutrition, climate change will give birth to newer infections and diseases. This will in turn affect the economy. By 2040 it is predicted that if the temperatures are not brought down then there will be a global food shortage.

Moreover, water scarcity will also become severe as many cities across the globe have become "zero water" cities like Capetown. Many of the cities like Chennai and Bengaluru are facing a similar crisis. The day is not far when Guwahati city may also go out of water due to gross depletion of groundwater resources. The Climate Change department has to make it compulsory for all buildings and flats in Guwahati and other cities in Assam to adopt rainwater harvesting system as done in cities of southern and western India. The new department can work in tandem with the Department of environment and forests so that green policies and sustainable technology can be adopted by the state. The new department can work in tandem with the Department of environment and forests so that green policies and sustainable technology can be adopted by the state. New technologies have to be created for future generations. New steps have to be taken by the cities and towns. Toronto and Berlin have adopted energy-efficient buildings. Most of the European cities have deployed electric vehicles. Delhi has set up a task force for clean air, whereas the city has adopted buses and autos running on CNG.

For India, climate change is still not a top priority so far for the government even though the banning of plastic is a positive step in this direction. Cess collected from the environment for National Clean Energy Fund has been diverted by the government for some other purposes whereas a large number of projects have been given green signal despite objections raised by Environment Impact Agencies. All these factors will have disastrous consequences. We have depleted 25 per cent of our natural resources as we move closer to ecological suicide. Scientists and environmentalists have warned that there will be a rise in temperature, cyclones and floods will become more frequent. Lately, 400 scientists inspired by Greta Thunberg have endorsed a civil disobedience campaign to take rapid action on climate change calling it "Extinction Rebellion". It is high time we saved our planet for the sake of future generations.