Perils of climate change Who's going to fight it

Syed Fattahul Alim brhe concern over climate change is global. The scientific community has been consistently trying to impress upon the governments of the developed nations to take damage limitation measures to save humanity from the impending catastrophe. But as expected, the nations that lecture the world most about what is proper and what is not are found to be least interested in practicing what they preach. And so the preparations against the imminent cataclysm are slow and lacking in focus, despite the warnings issued by the scientific community repeatedly. brThe just held six-day international symposium on Climate Change and Food Security in South Asia at a city hotel did in a similar fashion discussed ways to cope with the challenges thrown by climate change on the life and livelihood of the people of South Asia. In its Dhaka Declaration the international symposium recommended the creation of the South Asian Network on Climate Change and Food Security and establishment of South Asia Climate Outlook Forum with aims, as noted before, to combat challenges of climatic changes in the region collectively.brThe prognostications are grim. The president of Iceland, a frontline state in the world facing the threats posed by climate change, narrated how the sea level would rise in the far away places as a result of the melting of ice in the Iceland, Greenland and other areas in the Arctic circle region. President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson of this least known country in this part of the world mentioned how the nations of the Arctic region have formed the Arctic Council in the 1990s comprising eight countries where United States of America and Russia are also members. The mention of the Arctic Council as made by President Grimsson of Iceland has, of course, its terrifying context in South Asia, about which we are also least aware. The scientific community is certainly aware of the issue, but the general public and the governments that, for all practical purposes, are quite unconcerned about it. However, the President of Iceland, whose first ever visit in this part of the world drew very little attention of the media, made no bones about what bleak prospects are lying ahead within the next 40 to 70 years for the South Asian nations once the glacier of the Himalayas disappear. The very complex ecological changes in the regions lying in the Himalayan cradle will be hard to predict in their minute details. But what can be said in very general terms is that the melting ice of the glacier means more water coming down the hills and thus inundating the whole region. The water during its ultimate journey will certainly flow to the oceans thereby adding to the rise in sea level. The sea level will also rise due to the waters coming from the melting glaciers of the Arctic region! brThe Chief Adviser Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed, while putting forth his 12-point recommendations involving drastic measures to be adopted to combat the perils of climate change in this part of the world said that rise in sea level due to melting ice will submerge one-fifth of Bangladesh and render 25 to 30 million people, what it is called, 'climate refugees.' brAnd it is exactly in this context the formation of a Himalayan Council with the participator of the nations under the direct influence of the Himalayan range of mountains in the spirit of the Arctic Council has arisen. But will what suggested by the president of the faraway Iceland will be lost on the proud nations of South Asia who are so eloquent when they talk on the various issues of regional concern at various forums, but so forgetful of those once they leave the podium Cooperation is a word that sounds like music to the ear when uttered at these forums especially by political leaders of the countries concerned. But it all loses its force, and along with the music, when one gets down to the real nitty-gritty of the matter. brBut though the preparations at the political levels are practically more pronounced in their absence than in their existence, the realities on the ground are proceeding inexorably to their consequences. The flood patterns in the South Asian regions have been changing. The latest flood, which is said to be the worst of its kind in the last fifty years, that has struck Bihar of India has displaced some two million people. Who knows this flood has no connection with the changing behaviour of the Himalayan glacier But what are the nations of this region doing to avert these kinds of cataclysm from happening Far from that. On the contrary, they are building more dams and taking other measures to change the course of the rivers that feed this region to fulfil what they think their narrow national self-interests. But with the global warming effecting climate change and threatening the settlements of people and the habitats of other animals without consideration of the national borders inexorably, the various measures taken to control water may ultimately boomerang on the very nation that might have designed it in the first place. In fact, the climate change triggered by global warming is so all-engulfing that the only way to face it is through cooperation on a regional and global scale. brTalking about cooperation on a regional scale, we have our own experience about it. And it is not also that the national leaders are not unaware about the consequences. But things have so far progressed very little in spite of all the awareness. Meanwhile, valuable time is running out, whereas the overall level of preparedness is practically remaining at the zero level. The syndrome is not even local or regional. Even the advanced countries of the world are dragging their feet over meeting their commitments to reduce the level of carbon emission from cars and industries. But if one looks at the history of carbon emission into the atmosphere, it will be seen that it is the Western world that started this process at first through their technological revolutions. And the technology was also the midwife of the industrial and other kinds of revolutions that went to produce undreamt of wealth and prosperity in their societies. But the lure of more wealth in the hands of people through the introduction of more productive means of production brought about by new technology is still there. China is forging ahead and catching up fast with the leaders of the traditionally advanced as well as industrialised, and of course, the wealthiest, nations. But how is it doing that Well, following the old path of industrialisation already treaded by the Western countries. Need it be said that they burnt the fossil fuel that produce smoke and with it the CO2, which is the main Green House Gas (GHG), and also the chief culprit behind Global warming Now, India is also following the same track towards the path of fast industrialisation. How can one then tell India or China to stop burning fossil fuel like coal, petroleum, and diesel and so on For that is one way of asking them to stop industrialisation. No one with minimum sense is going to ask them to do so. So, for all practical purposes, our biggest South Asian neighbour will be least interested in stopping the burning of fossil fuels that emit GHGs at the expense of their industrialisation and along with it the lure of affluence, wealth and consumerism. brNow the fast developing countries like India will burn non-renewable fossil fuels for the sake of industrialisation and prosperity in the lives of their people. The advanced nations, in spite of the fact that they have reached the peak of their growth, will still shilly-shally over reducing the level of burning fossil fuel, because they want to keep to the way of affluent life they have so far been used to.brWhy should then world mind if the GHG level in the atmosphere rises further thereby making the world warmer brSo, the ice sheet in the Arctic will go on melting, the Himalayan glaciers will go down the rivers into the sea, the sea level will rise causing floods, cyclones, hurricanes and all the deaths and destructions that may come in their wake. But the nations and their leaders will remain adamant in their egos to outsmart their rivals in their affluence and military might.