Environmental degradation and climate change are global phenomena, stressing more and more on food security, health and social life. The air, water and soil are polluted though they are vital for sustainable development. The cumulative impact of emissions of green house-gases is loss of fertility and productivity of soil, and approximately 3 billion people globally could experience chronic water scarcity. The global economy could lose up to 18% of GDP by 2050.
Over 29% (96.4 million hectares) of India’s total geographical area (328.7 million ha) is degraded. Scientific reports even suggest that the world’s top soil could become unproductive within 60 years if current rates of loss of fertility continue. Globally, the countries have, under a UN Convention, already decided to restore one billion ha of degraded land by 2030. India, on its part, has been working to restore 26 million ha of the country’s degraded land by that year. But if the current land degradation trends continue, it would disrupt food supply and lead to rapid biodiversity loss and species extinction in this century itself.
Biodiversity underpins our very existence on this planet. The UN Biodiversity Conference (CoP15) is now in session from December 7 to 19 at Montréal, Quebec, Canada. It will focus on protecting nature and halting biodiversity loss around the world, and has a target to conserve 30 per cent of lands and oceans by 2030.
In order to address the climate change issues, action only at Government level is not adequate. Changing individual and community behavior can make a significant dent in the environmental and climate crises.The modern luxury- intensive (high carbon intensive) lifestyle puts per person ecological footprint on nature more than what it was decades back. The ecological footprint is expressed as Earth Overshoot Day (EOD), which is computed by dividing planet’s biocapacity (the amount of ecological resources Earth is able to generate that year), by humanity’s Ecological Footprint (humanity’s demand for that year), and multiplying by the number of days in a year (365). The Global Footprint Network calculates that the humans currently use 74% more than what the planet can remake or regenerate. The EOD was December 25 in 1971, November 15 in 1981, October 15 in 1991, September 24 in 2001, August 4 in 2011, July 30 in 2021, and July 28 in 2022. It is time that this trend should be reversed.
According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), if one billion people out of the global population of eight billion adopt environment-friendly behaviours in their daily lives, global carbon emissions could drop by approximately 20 per cent. The Indian Prime Minister introduced the concept of ‘Lifestyle for the Environment’ (LiFE) at CoP26 in Glasgow (Scotland) on November 1, 2021, calling upon the global community of individuals and institutions to drive it as an international mass movement towards “mindful and deliberate utilisation, instead of mindless and destructive consumption” to protect and preserve the environment. The idea promotes an environmentally conscious lifestyle. Those who practice such a lifestyle are recognised as Pro Planet People (PPP) under LiFE. In this mission we blend the traditional ancient wisdom with the modern green technology.
The National Environment Policy (NEP) 2006 is a response to our national commitment to clean environment, mandated in the constitution in Articles 48A and 51A(g), strengthened by judicial interpretation of Article 21.
Let us follow the ideology of Mahatma Gandhi who preached ‘conservationism’ in preference over ‘consumerism’, i.e., conservative use of resources in preference over prodigal use. He led a life in perfect harmony with nature and believed in minimalism, used nature’s resources to the bare minimum and need based. Gandhi was an apostle of ecological movement, if one looks at his basic approach to respect Nature. As early as in 1909 in his book ‘Hind Swaraj’ he cautioned mankind against unrestricted industrialism and materialism. Industries, mills, factories and machines have an adverse effect on the health of people, as such activities pollute the rivers and other water bodies, air with smoke and noise.
Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need but not every man’s greed, he believed. The earth, the air, the land and the water were not an inheritance from our forefathers but a loan from our children, he stated. It is our moral responsibility to hand over to the next generation at least as it was handed over to us, Gandhi said.
There are a series of important international conventions and protocols on climate change after the United Nations Convention on Human Environment in 1972 (Stockholm, Sweden Conference) and Earth Summit in 1992 (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Global Convention). The Paris Agreement (UN Climate Change Conference-Conference of Parties- COP 21) 2015 was a landmark event.
There was a unanimous agreement to substantially reduce global greenhouse gas emissions to limit the global temperature increase in this century to 2 degrees Celsius while pursuing efforts to limit the increase even further to 1.5 degrees. The COP 27, recently took place through November 6-18, 2022 at the Red Sea Resort of Sharm El- Sheikh, Egypt, which arrived at a decision that a ‘loss and damage fund’ would be created for transfer to the developing countries along with technologies, who must take the blame for the rapid climate change, in order to push developing nations to adopt green technologies. In Paris Climate Conclave there was commitment that the developed countries would finance 100 billion dollars per year to developingcountries, but it did not happen. India as the G20 president now must set a benchmark in the fight against climate change, and bring climate finance, energy and food security into play. India’s G20 theme is ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ or ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future’, and it affirms the need to work together to protect the planet.
Odisha State has rich natural resources in terms of minerals, forest, fertile agricultural land, biodiversity, sea coast, rivers, water bodies, and ground water. However, Odisha has been identified as one of eight States in the country which are highly vulnerable to climate change and need prioritization of adaptation interventions, according to the national climate vulnerability assessment report, by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) recently. The State faced ten cyclones in recent years. Our coastal area is more vulnerable.
Application of green technology and adoption of best practices such as shifting from fossil fuel energy to renewable energy, use of energy efficient devices and equipment, conversion of waste into wealth, conservation of air, water and soil, protection of natural habitats and bio diversity (forests, oceans, coasts, lakes, rivers, ice caps, mountains, deserts, etc.), adoption of circular economy in preference over linear economy would help build up nature’s resilience as well as guarantee quality life.
(Dr Patro is president, Orissa Environmental Society, email: snpatro11@gmail.com, mob: 9437190420)