India — 'Hope for the best, plan for the
worst', is the mantra of emergency planners everywhere. But, for 125
million people living in the low lying areas of South Asia, when it
comes to climate change there is no plan that will adequately address
the worst consequences.
Blue Alert, Climate Migrants in South Asia, a new Greenpeace report
warns that left unchecked climate change could lead to global
temperature increases of between 4-5°C, unleashing a barrage of
impacts that will drive mass migration in India, Pakistan and
Bangladesh.
It is not as simple as rising sea levels flooding coastal areas,
although that alone would be devastating. The report warns that impacts
will include: "inundation itself, flood and storm damage, erosion,
saltwater intrusion, rising water tables and impeded drainage and
wetland loss. These will together reduce the ability of these regions
to provide their inhabitants access to land itself, in some cases, and
to many others their means of cultivation, water resources and fodder,
causing severe hardship in terms of livelihood and habitat loss."
In a region already home to the largest number of people living in
poverty, such impacts will take a horrendous human toll. The reports
author, Dr. Chella Rajan, Professor of Humanities and Social Sciences
at IIT Madras, concludes that "India should seek policy options that
are proactive in terms of developing international strategies to reduce
the risk of destructive climate change. We cannot wait for the
inevitable to happen and hope to adapt to it."
Greenpeace, simultaneously launched the 'Blue Alert' campaign in five
of the most vulnerable coastal cities in India: Kolkata, Mumbai,
Chennai, Kochi and Goa. The campaign aims to catalyse people in the
coastal danger zones, empowering them with information that they can
raise with their elected representatives.
"The Indian government has wrongly forsaken mitigation for adaptation
and the forthcoming session of Parliament must debate this wisdom which
has serious long term consequences," said Divya Raghunandan, Greenpeace
India Campaign Director. "We have an opportunity to be world leaders in
developing clean technologies. We have the human capital to do this and
our government must create the necessary environment for it. There is
an added opportunity in laying claim to access mitigation related clean
technologies from the developed world. This is where the focus should
be when the government announces its National Climate Action Plan in
June", she said.
Decisive action needed
Globally more than 1 billion people live in low-lying areas that could
be affected by sea level rise. Much of the productive land used to
produce food is also in coastal areas at risk from rising sea levels.
The solutions to prevent catastrophic climate change impacts and avoid
hundreds of millions of people from being displaced already exist.
What's needed is a revolution in the way we generate energy and an end
to global deforestation.
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/news/climate-change-refugees-india-280308
