27tober 2007

Thanks : The Hindu
Swaminathan calls for national policy on climate change
CHENNAI: It might not be long before India introduces a national policy to address the impact of climate change on the country. Member of Parliament and agricultural scientist M.S. Swaminathan plans to introduce a Private Member’s bill on the ‘Management of Climate Change,’ which will seek to develop a national strategy to assess local vulnerabilities to climate change and suggest adaptive strategies.

There is increasing evidence that while developing countries contribute relatively less to global carbon emissions – per capita carbon dioxide emission in the United States is 20 times that of India – they are likely to be the worst affected, given the vulnerability of livelihoods in these areas, such as agriculture, to climatic changes. “Living in a coastal area, we must start preparing ourselves for the future,” Dr. Swaminathan told The Hindu. “Once the sea-level starts rising, you cannot do anything about it, so you have to be ready for it.”

Climate change policy


Dr. Swaminathan hopes that the bill will stimulate the government to subsequently formalise a national climate change policy.

“The bill will be modelled along the lines of the United States’ Drought Preparedness Act,” he said. “The ‘Management of Climate Change’ act will look at the situation from below, from the Panchayati Raj level. The objective is to prepare one woman and one male member in every Panchayat as ‘climate managers’ so that they become well-versed to handle the flood or drought situations that we may have to face.”

The expected effects of climate change range from changing rainfall patterns to increased salinity of the soil. Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), told the United Nations in a September 24 address that “500 million in South Asia” are likely to be affected by the lack of availability of water caused by a reduction in the mass balance of glaciers.

Hundreds of thousands more in densely populated coastal areas are likely to be affected by rising sea levels – sea-levels have risen by 17 centimetres in the past century, according to the IPCC.

C. K. Sreedharan, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Tamil Nadu government, believes that while it is important to develop adaptive strategies to address these problems, greater regulation of activities that are harming the environment is also needed.

Industrial activities


“We often hear the excuse that developing countries cannot afford to regulate industrial activities,” Mr. Sreedharan said. “People say that we can adapt to these changes. But it is crucial that we have our own guidelines to limit activities that are adding to the problem.”

He suggests that regulation need not focus on reducing emissions alone, as the international discourse advocates. “Everyone is talking about reducing emissions, but we should first look at how we regulate land use in Tamil Nadu. We need to achieve a balance between development and conservation, which we do not have.”

Catchment areas – such as the Western Ghats – and coastal areas particularly need to be protected. Deforestation of these areas not only directly adds to the problem – around 30 per cent of global carbon emission is as a result of deforestation, according to a UN report – but also changes rainfall patterns, with widespread consequences.

Mr. Sreedharan said that Tamil Nadu – and India – needed to have “a more rigid land use policy,” as well as incorporate the effects of climate change into its economic planning, to mitigate its effects.

“Tamil Nadu is already extremely vulnerable to the vagaries of the weather,” he added. “Erratic rainfall, in quantity or distribution, will have severe ramifications on the State. We cannot allow this to happen.”