The region comprising India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and the Maldives has found time to discuss everything under the sun, but never the environment, ecology or climate.
Yet this is where global warming affects the most. The disappointing part is not the lack of knowledge. It is the lack of interest. I am not aware of any effort in the region to fight global warming.
The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) at Brussels has predicted dire consequences: 30 per cent of species will be wiped out, 3.2 billion people will face water shortage and a large-scale melting of the Himalayan glaciers will play havoc in the Gangetic plains.
An increase of a mere one foot of sea water can endanger Mumbai and Kolkata as much as it could Karachi, Chittagong and Colombo. Even if the rise is not that much, the countries in the region cannot afford to wait and watch.
How to tackle the impending disaster coolly and collectively is the question stares us. India set up a Department of Environment in 1981. Similar official establishments exist in the other countries as well. Alas, all of them are lost in trivialities.
They have never budgeted anything for steps to fight against the challenge hurled at them. Nor have they planned anything as a region. The famous Sunderbans in West Bengal has lost 10 per cent of its area as well as some rare species to the rising water. [Read More on Gulf News]
Source: Gulf News
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