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| Umesh Anand |
WITH the attention of the world on Copenhagen, we thought it would
be a good idea to speak to some of the people who have already
begun to experience the impact of global warming. In India you will
find them on the coasts and in the mountains and chances are that you
will soon find them surfacing in slums in cities. Their stories put together
by our correspondents appear over three news pages in this issue as a
reminder of the escalating problems resulting from carbon emissions.
For anyone who chooses to look beyond the carbon dance of competing
interests at Copenhagen, it would be quite clear that the problems
caused by weather changes are very real. A difficult and hugely expensive
task awaits the Indian government as indeed it does others in the
developing world. Coping with displacement, water shortages, loss of
livelihoods and so on will be much more challenging than mastering the
somewhat spurious complexities of emissions.
The answer to the rich nations is to confront them with their callous
record. Urgency and resolve are needed, not the flirtatious engagements
that that provide a mere $ 100 billion or $ 200 billion. When the future
of the planet is threatened what is needed is honest action and moral
commitment. Money is needed, but just throwing money at the developing
world so that industrialised nations can continue to pollute won’t
make the problem go away.
India should have been the natural leader of a new urgency because
the burdens that we are going to have to shoulder will go far beyond
alternative technologies and reduction of our emissions. We will have to
bear economic and social costs that are not part of the current reckonings.
In this context to try and talk the language of the developed world in
the hope of getting some kind of pat on the back is really quite silly.
Instead we should be aggressive claimants of compensation on the one
hand and our share of the globe’s carbon budget on the other.
Whether it is environment or agriculture, experience shows that
emerging economies need people who roll up their sleeves and get down
to work. Better governance comes from those politicians who have their
feet firmly on the ground and can deal with local realities. Our cover
story on mechanisation of paddy cultivation in Kerala is one of many
stories we have done which show that there is no alternative to engaging
directly with farmers, passing on techniques and technologies and helping
them do agriculture more efficiently. It is much the same with managing
the environment and the impact of global warming. While the
sophistications of new technologies are needed, action in real time is
indispensible. We will have to do better than clever speeches in
Parliament.
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