Family planning, reproductive healthcare and gender relations could influence the future course of climate change and affect how humanity adapts to rising seas, worsening storms and severe droughts, according to The State of World Population 2009, a United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) report released here on Thursday. The release was coordinated by UNFPA along with the Indian Red Cross Society Odisha State Branch (IRCS OSB).
The earth's surface temperature has risen by 0.74 degree Celsius in the last 100 years and this change has disrupted our ecosystems. By 2100, the temperature may rise by another alarming four to six degrees Celsius. The 10 warmest years globally since 1880 have been in the last 13 years, states the report.
Principal Secretary of State Forest & Environment Department Upendra Nath Behera, who released the report, said despite the large population in our country, we consume less power compared to some other developed countries. Nevertheless, it is still our responsibility to ensure we do our part to arrest climate change.
Principal Chief Conservator of Forest Suresh Chandra Mohanty said mitigation and adaptation through activities at various levels in the democratic set-up is needed to ensure health-safety and avoid malnutrition. Forests can be a carbon sink or even a source of carbon dioxide.
The common man on the street has to be provided with incentives and compensation to increase the initiative towards environment, because for him immediate and personal needs will always be a priority, said Mohanty.
UNDP's Dr Ambika Prasad Nanda spoke extensively on the report, highlighting how women are likely to bear the onus of climate change more than men. He said women, particularly from the underprivileged sections, are more vulnerable partly because they make up a large share of agricultural work-force and they have lesser access to income generation activities. Drought and erratic rainfall can force women to work harder to secure food, water and energy for their homes. Girls may opt to drop out of schools to help at home and this cycle of depravation and inequality undermines the social capital required to deal with all problems including climate change. He said the need of the hour is to adopt an approach at the international stage which involves a more humane treatment at the grassroots level.
Climate change is mainly a factor of lifestyle and consumption factors. Since we are a land of mountains and monsoons, we face a stronger challenge and Odisha has been specifically vulnerable to natural disasters. Fatalities due to Lightening have dramatically increased in the State with 250-odd deaths in the past year. The cloud-burst in Raigada also holds testimony to the phenomenon of carbon footprints. Small and marginal farmers are migrating towards unskilled labour. When mobility and migration happen by force, there can be an onslaught of related health and economic problems. The importance of the speed and magnitude of the recent population growth in boosting future greenhouse gas emissions is well-acknowledged amongst scientists, including those on the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Climate change seems likely factor in a major population movement in future, probably through internal displacement and to an extent also through international migration.
Climate change threatens to worsen poverty and burden marginalised groups with additional hardships. Odisha has an extensive coastline which is in danger due to the rising sea-level. Torrential and irregular rainfalls have started to plague the farming community. The report has listed immediate, short term and long term plans.
Other senior officials from various organisations, IRCS OSB Secretary MP Mohanty, IAG Coordinator Shyamal K Das, UNFPA SPC Hemant Dwivedi and UNFPA SPO Dr Deepa Prasad also spoke at the event.
