GUWAHATI, April 12 – The impact of climate change on Assam will be devastating which will accelerate the rate of migration from countries like Bangladesh. The impact of such problems on regions like the NE part of India will be grave. The people of Assam and their neighbours in NE region should unite with those working in other parts of the globe to resist this imminent man-made danger. This was the observation made by renowned environmentalist and wildlife expert Bittu Sahgal.
Also the editor of Sanctuary, the well-acclaimed environment magazine, Sahgal was delivering a lecture on climate change and its impact on India on Friday at the Forest School here. The lecture was organised by the Assam Science Technology and Environment Council (ASTEC), the NGO Aaranyak and the Assam Forest School jointly.
Maintaining that 26 per cent of the green house emission of the country is coming from deforestation, he said that the country’s rulers have been overlooking this factor. The politicians and the planners of the country do not understand the significance of climate change, he said.
Though there are alternatives to burning carbons like fossil fuels and timber, these people are ignoring these alternatives on the plea of higher costs. They thus undermine the worth of life.
The vast wilderness of the country is fast vanishing. The sooner the realisation that natural ecosystems provide planetary infrastructures for climate control dawns on the people the better.
Moreover, wildlife is the caretaker of the forests, while wetlands have been serving the earth as carbon sinks. Though the significance of the wetlands has now been realised by the people, there is hardly any serious move to protect them, said the environmentalist.
On the other hand, protecting the animals like the tiger and the elephant and their habitats is a climate change control imperative. But the big cat and pachyderm cannot be saved if the forest is not saved. Moreover, species diversity is critical in the role of the forests to control climate change, he said.
Preventing forest fire is not a wildlife issue only. It is linked with the strategy for human survival.
Though wildlife will be the immediate victim of climate change, humanity will be its ultimate victim.
Today, the amount of carbon released to the atmosphere by irrational human activities is found to be 450 parts per billion. If this amount touches 500 parts per billion, temperature will go up by 5 degree Celsius. But a 4 degree Celsius rise in the temperature will lead to food crisis, he said.
Commenting on the difference between the process of nature effecting changes in climate and that of the man-made changes, he said that while the natural process comes as a gradual one, the man-made one is very rapid in its pace.
Later, talking to this newspaper, he said that though Assam has lost much of its forest cover, by working to bring this cover back it can help to sequester and store carbon and thus fight climate change.
“Assam should lead the way for India to show how naturenomics can replace old-fashioned economics. The Chief Minister of Assam has personally promised to us steps to protect forest, wildlife and make Assam India’s first Nature State. If this can be achieved, I believe the per capita income of Assam will rise and quality of life, food security and economic security of its around 30 million people will be enhanced,” he said.
He also asserted that copying the American way of development and life is suicidal for Assam. “Instead, we should teach the Americans how to live like the Assamese,” he maintained.
