Create the space for governance with a green heart

Greater vulnerability

• Climate change is something India’s leadership mentions often but does little to engage with (with the exception of promoting the solar energy industry).
  • Even as energy consumption soars, no steps have been taken to consciously pursue an agenda of cutting down emissions.
• More importantly, the remediatory aspects of climate change which include building resilience, food security, and access to essentials have fallen far behind in priorities.
• As floods, famines, heatwaves, wildfires, water shortages and droughts become increasingly common, contingency plans must be put in place to protect vulnerable populations and diminish harm.
• From updating building guidelines to preserving natural storm barriers such as mangrove forests, to establishing funds for evacuation and rehabilitation, are the tasks that the MOEFCC has had no time for recently.
• India has one of the world’s lowest levels of green cover per capita.
  • It has only 28 trees per headcount of the populace,
  • Qualitatively important forest cover has decreased significantly in the last 20 years.
  • Recent legislation such as the Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill, 2023, needs to be rolled back and robust new protections put in place.
• The metropolitan centers of Delhi, Mumbai and the tier 2 and tier 3 cities across the Gangetic belt now have unacceptable levels of air pollution.
  • Bengaluru and Delhi are running out of water, and the poor have to queue for hours to have access to the bare minimum.
  • The rivers that brought life to cities, such as the Adyar in Chennai or the Yamuna in Delhi, have become open sewers.
• Smaller cities have more manageable problems, but without timely intervention, will reach the same crisis levels as the metros.
• Sewage treatment specifically requires a major national overhaul as Indian cities treat only approximately 28% of the sewage they generate.

Destruction in the Himalayas

• Climate change has had outsize repercussions in the mountains of India.
  • Glaciers are rapidly receding, and in some places, have disappeared.
  • Up to 80% of their volume is forecast to disappear in this century.
• Rainfall and temperature patterns have changed beyond recognition.
• This impacts the water and food security of not just the people of the mountains but also of much of North India. When thousands of Ladakhis fasted and protested to demand governmental action they were ignored perhaps because they held no votes.
• Similar concerns arise for wetlands whose importance has never been greater and other marginal landscapes which are critical for biodiversity as well.
• At the root of many of these problems is the Indian government’s age-old refusal to listen to stakeholders and affected persons.
• Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) mechanisms have become ineffective. Protests are swept aside, criticism is ignored, resulting in rapid, ill-considered steps being taken.
• The Char Dham Highway project is an example.
  • Passed through amidst a barrage of small EIAs, the grandiose scheme has caused irreparable harm to the river valleys of Uttarakhand.

Restore genuine conservation

• Ill-advised policies, driven by commercial interest, such as green credits and compensatory afforestation, have taken the place of genuine conservation efforts.
  • Sustainable development does not mean that only commercially profitable steps may be taken by the government.
  • Enforcement mechanisms and bodies also need more teeth so as to ensure genuine environmental rule of law.
• The absence of these issues from the election manifestos of the major political parties was bitterly disappointing.
• If the government is to truly be the steward of the people, it must start by taking a hard look at the physical health of the country.