Act now to prevent climate change or rehabilitate
12.5 crore people – Greenpeace warns
New Delhi, India — In
a dramatic action early this morning, singer Rabbi joined Greenpeace
activists who have occupied "prime real estate" and set up a "migrant
colony" of hutments 35 ft above the Delhi Noida toll bridge. This
occupation will continue all day and will highlight the urgency of
creating a National Climate Action plan (NCAP) that focuses on taking
action now to prevent climate change. Indications are that the
government's approach to the NCAP is to wait and deal with the
nightmarish consequences through "adaptation".
The Greenpeace report, 'Blue Alert – Climate Migrants in South Asia:
Estimates and Solutions' (1), authored by Dr. Sudhir Chella Rajan
professor of Humanities & Social Sciences at IIT Madras, warns that
if greenhouse gas emissions continue to grow under the
business-as-usual scenario as projected, leading to global temperature
rise by 4-5°C, the South Asian region is estimated to face an
enormous wave of 12.5 crore climate migrants. These people will be
displaced by the impacts of climate change, including sea level rise
and drought associated with shrinking water supplies and monsoon
variability. The report states that if global and local policy measures
are implemented to keep global warming below the 2°C tipping point,
then the number of displaced can be reduced by 95%.
Speaking at Jantar Mantar, from the Sangharsh rally bringing together
peoples' movements impacted by issues of displacement, social activist
Medha Patkar on behalf of NAPM (National Alliance of Peoples'
Movements) said, "Every project displaced person in India is a living
proof of the utter immorality and callousness of the Indian state and
the complete failure of rehabilitation in the country. It is shocking
that given this track record, the government should even talk about
rehabilitating 12.5 crore people. The only real option is to
prevent this disaster by acting on climate change. There is little
doubt that creating decentralized energy options based on renewable
energy will lead to true economic development while avoiding disastrous
large projects and preventing climate change. We must insist on such a
vision"
Climate Migrant Sukamal Sahoo from Ganga Sagar in the Sunderbans who
had come down to Delhi to demand action from the Government said, "I
have already lost my home once to the sea, and maybe I will again. More
than half of Goramara in the Sunderbans where I lived is now under
water. Climate change has not only changed my family's geography, but
my identity as well. My social status as son of Panchayat Pradhan has
been washed away along with my land."
Taking time off specially to highlight the issue of climate change,
singer Rabbi spent the day in the scorching summer heat in Delhi, as an
activist on the billboard, to talk to Delhi about what could be if
global warming was not addressed. "I have realized that every thing we
do can either hurt or save the climate, and our future depends on the
choices we make. No one can afford to stand by and watch on the issue
of climate change. 12.5 crore homeless people is shocking. We can not
live in our cocooned gated colonies, we need to take a stand on climate
change and that is why I am here today. It's clear to me that we need
to prevent this catastrophe and I'm willing to stick my neck out for
that."
Greenpeace is concerned that the National Climate Action Plan is being
decided with no public debate whatsoever. Climate and Energy campaigner
Natasha Chandy, also an activist on the billboard said, "The Blue Alert
Campaign in vulnerable coastal cities, showed us that the citizens and
coastal MPs want action now to prevent climate change. They are not
taken in by the government's claim that we can do business as usual and
adapt to climate change when it happens. It is shameful that the
government that uses the low per capita emissions of the poor as a
justification to avoid international obligations to tackle climate
change should so callously put millions of the same poor at risk by its
inaction. We demand that the government stops hiding behind the poor
(2) and frames a NCAP that aims at containing global warming below
2°C."
http://www.greenpeace.org/india/news/act-now-to-prevent-climate-cha
