A wake-up call
The World Environment Day?s theme this year, ?Deserts and Desertification?, is a problem which the global community recognized when it adopted in 1994 the Convention to Combat Desertification.
World Environment Day is observed worldwide to focus attention on a set of global problems that human society cannot ignore much longer. The UN generally assigns a specific theme for this day each year, and the focus for 2006 is ?Deserts and Desertification?, a problem which the global community recognized when it adopted in 1994 the Convention to Combat Desertification. However, action at the international level to combat desertification in reality has been weak and unfocussed. The issue of desertification is often is perceived in the West as a natural problem of advancing desert is in far away developing countries. In actual fact desertification is essentially a problem of land degradation and loss of biological productivity of land caused by human induced factors and climate change, covering 1/3rd of the earth?s surface area and over a billion people.
Beyond the theme for this year, we should not lose sight of the much larger problem of environmental degradation that is taking place globally on various fronts. Several world leaders have described the threat of climate change as the most serious problem facing the human race. Human induced climate change has resulted from cumulative emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) of which carbon dioxide is the most prominent. The alarming rate of increase of CO2 and consequent climate change prompted the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in its Third Assessment Report to conclude:
?There is a new and stronger evidence that most of the warming observed over the last 50 years is attributable to human activities and emissions of CO2 due to fossil fuel burning are virtually certain to be the dominant influence on the trends in the atmospheric CO2 concentration during the 21st century.?
In the 20th century the average increase in surface temperature recorded has been 0.6 oC. Projections for the 21st century indicate an increase of anywhere from 1.4 oC to 5.8 oC. A country like India has to be concerned about the problem of climate change, because there is the possibility of adverse impacts on agriculture and the availability of water. The reality of the current momentum of climate change is that even if we bring out a radical and sharp reduction in emissions of GHGs, the impacts of climate change will continue for decades and centuries. Hence the human race has no choice but to adapt to the impacts of climate change, which in the case India would involve several measures that could soften the impacts, particularly in the most fragile areas. For instance, sea level rise threatens several of our coastal locations, particularly areas such as the Sundarbans. Maintaining the health of the mangrove plantations in these areas, and possibly even creating some physical infrastructure to protect the fury of a rising sea may be required in the coming decades. In the case of agriculture the development of drought resistant species would in any case benefit the largest number of farmers in this country, since they are totally dependent on rainfed agriculture.
The country was losing over 10% of its GDP on account of environmental damage and depletion of natural resources. The composition of this huge loss included the effects of air pollution, both indoor and outdoor, estimated in the form of higher absenteeism, lower productivity and increased expenditure on hospitalization. Other factors that impose a huge cost on the economy are the pollution of our rivers, land degradation, deforestation and the loss of biodiversity. These problems would receive due attention only if we include the externalities that our actions impose on the earth?s ecosystem. For instance, one interesting example of how these externalities can be quantified is seen in the case of water pollution, which has rendered piped water throughout the country totally unsuitable for drinking pruposes. This has given rise to a huge industry supplying bottled water, the value of which is the relevant cost of water pollution.
With a growing population and increasing income levels, the daunting prospect of further damage to our environment cannot escape anyone?s attention. We must resolve on World Environment Day to do a little for improving the state of mother nature around us.