NEW DELHI: A day after a UN panel predicted gloomy future for South Asia where climate change may even push nations to war due to pressure on natural resources, its chairman R K Pachauri on Tuesday admitted that the situation is indeed bad and it would be worse if the countries do not act together to face this common challenge.
"The world has all kinds of drivers of stress and drivers of conflict. With the climate change, these are likely to get accentuated further," said Pachauri in an interview to TOI.
Pachauri - chairman of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which released its report in Yokohama, Japan on Monday - was responding to the kind of messages one can get from this much-awaited document.
Asked how this problem could be tacked unless countries in South Asia join hands, he said, "Under SAARC, for instance, we have a programme to deal with environmental protection and climate change. But I am afraid that is not being implemented effectively."
Pachauri gave an example of massive floods in Pakistan in 2009 which he could see himself while flying over the country. He had later conveyed his concerns to then Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari, when he met him.
"I later went to meet the then President Zardari and told him that there is no political conflict on these issues and that the two countries should work together because all we are vulnerable. So, it would make a lot of sense that countries of South Asia should coordinate their policies and action to fight the common threat," he said.
Asked about Zardari's response, Pachauri - who is also a member of the Prime Minister's advisory council on climate change in India - said, "The response was positive. But, it's a question of who's going to bell the cat."
His remark assumes significance in view of the predictions made by the IPCC not only for the Asia but the also for whole world where the threat of climate change must be handled through joint action.
Referring to the report, even UN climate change secretariat in Bonn had on Monday highlighted those points. In a statement, it said, "The IPCC report makes clear that people around the world are already suffering from climate change, as it directly affects their livelihoods, reducing crops, destroying homes and raising food prices, and that this will accelerate if climate change is left unchecked. It provides a detailed assessment of regional aspects, which give a much clearer understanding of climate impacts in different regions."
Touching the human conflict aspects, the secretariat said, "Among other things, the report warns that climate change increases the risk of armed conflict around the world because it worsens poverty and economic shocks. Therefore, climate change is already becoming a determining factor in the national security policies of states."
