Greenpeace, the global non-profit organisation that works on the bio-diversity and environment issues of the planet, is in the process of launching 'Blue Alert' campaign in five of the most vulnerable coastal cities in India - Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Kochi and Goa. | |
| The aim is to bring home the reality of what is in store for these cities if the government fails to start acting immediately towards a low carbon economy. |
| |
| The Blue Alert campaign aims to catalyse citizens in the coastal danger zones and empower them with information so that affected communities are able to bring up their concerns with their elected representatives. |
| |
| According to Divya Raghunandan, campaign director of Greenpeace, "The Indian government has wrongly forsaken mitigation for adaptation, and the forthcoming session of Parliament must debate this wisdom which has serious long-term consequences." |
| |
| "There is an added opportunity in laying claim to access mitigation-related clean technologies from the developed world. This is where the focus should be when the government announces its National Climate Action Plan in June," Raghunandan added. |
| |
| According to Vinuta Gopal, climate and energy campaigner of Greenpeace, "The government and citizens have to immediately think of developing low carbon economy, technology transfer and funds for clean technology. There should also be stringent policies on vehicle pollution and power plants." |
| |
| According to a report put together for Greenpeace by Sudhir Chella Rajan, professor of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai, if business continues as usual, South Asia will face a 4 to 5 degree Celcius rise in global temperatures and about 125 million people will be forced out of their homes by the end of the century. The impacts would not only include sea level rise, but water doughts associated with shrinking water supplies and monsoon variability as well. |
| |
| The three South Asian countries sharing a coastline - Bangladesh, Pakistan and India, have nearly 130 million people currently living in what is known as the Low Elevation Coastal Zone (LECZ), which comprises the coastal region which is less than 10 metres above sea level. These areas are most vulnerable to sea level rise and coastal erosion. |
| |
| Looking at India and Bangladesh alone, approximately 125 million migrants, comprising about 75 million from Bangladesh and the remaining 50 million from the densely populated coastal regions and other vulnerable parts of India, could be rendered homeless by the end of this century. |
| |
| The study also estimates that eight million rural population is likely to migrate to urban areas due to their double exposure to climate change and inability to adapt to global trade impacts by the end of this century. |
| |
| These are the people who would have the least skills and resources at their disposal to shift occupations as the climate changes. |
| |
| Commenting on his report, Rajan said, "The current situation would displace 125 million people while if global and local policy interventions contained global warming below the two degree celcius limit, the number of migrants would be about five million in South Asia. India cannot hope to adapt to catatrophic climate changes. The country has no choice but to seek policy options, global and in India, which should lead to de-carbonisation and a sustainable environment. India needs to lay emphasis on mitigating climate change because the costs of adaptation to a climate catastrophe are not in the realm of what is possible." |
| |
|
| |
