URGENT! We Need An Exit Ramp Off The Highway To Climate Hell, Ignore At (Y)Our Own Peril

At COP29, there is no high-level Indian representation. The PM could have snatched the initiative even if the big guns were absent and presented the voice of the world’s largest democracy to democratise the environment. But do we have the guts to showcase a credible on-ground action to back-up?

Russian roulette, according to a dictionary, is the practice of loading a bullet into one chamber of a revolver, spinning the cylinder, and then pulling the trigger while pointing the gun at one's own head. Using this expression, UN secretary general António Guterres has recently

said “We are playing Russian roulette with our planet”. “We need an exit ramp off the highway to climate hell. And the good news is that we have control of the wheel. The battle to limit temperature rise to 1.5 degrees will be won or lost in the 2020s – under the watch of leaders today.”

Climate change is real and the disastrous impact is being felt all across. For example, rising temperatures resulting in large quantities of sea water getting evaporated and creating flying rivers which lead to sudden and unexpected cloud bursts. This is just one example of climate change.

“We have what we need to save ourselves,” said Guterres on another occasion. “Our forests, our wetlands, and our oceans absorb carbon from the atmosphere. They are vital to keeping 1.5 alive, or pulling us back if we do overshoot that limit. We must protect them,” he said at the American Museum of Natural History.

Yet, there is no political will to address the issue among the governments including in India. We, through this column, have been stressing the need to make the environment an election issue. As we wrote earlier, the subject did figure in the manifestos of both the BJP, the Congress and the Trinamool Congress during the last Lok Sabha elections. That was it. The burning issue (pun intended) was overtaken on tu-tu-mai-mai election abuses.

The situation remained the same in the all-important Maharashtra State Legislative Assembly elections. As almost all parties missed the climate change bus, though the Shiv Sena (UBT) just mentioned the subject and pledged to revive the Mumbai Climate Action Plan (M-CAP) which was relegated to the back burner by the government headed by the rival Sena (Eknath Shinde). But the issue did not figure anywhere in any election campaign which was again dominated by blame games that the politicians play. Jaago, voter jaago!

The air quality in Delhi NCR and Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) is way beyond the WHO prescribed limits. Schools are shut, people’s movements are curbed and they suffocate in the open, yet nobody bothers. We have every reason upset as the politicians of all hues continue to neglect the issue. And, when a dejected youngster team visited the UN chief, he posted this: “You have every right to be angry. I am angry too,” the UN chief posted on social media on Thursday following his meeting with youth representatives and young environmental activists. “I am angry because we are on the verge of the climate abyss, and I don’t see enough urgency or political will to address the emergency.”

At COP 29 in progress at Baku, Azerbaijan, the opening days of this year’s COP have featured the expected speeches, report launches and expert interventions, but the youth roundtable was something different. Organized by the Youth Advisory Group and YOUNGO – the official youth community of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) – the discussion was a candid departure from the usual formalities of the UN Secretary-General’s usual schedule.

Opting out of traditional speeches, young eco-activists from across the globe chose to present their visions on tackling climate change, engage in frank discussions about challenges they encounter, and even to solicit advice from the UN chief on how to take significant steps towards preventing a climate catastrophe.

The participants spoke of their dreams and fears, proposing concrete steps to make the world more sustainable and secure for future generations. For many, climate issues are not abstract concepts but everyday realities they are determined to face head on.

Guterres posted on X platform: Climate scientists, activists & young people are demanding #ClimateAction. They must be heard, not silenced. For me, the conversations I have with them - at #COP29 & throughout the year - are extremely important.

Aysel Azizova, a young environmental activist from Azerbaijan, tweeted: “We discussed the role of youth in sustainable development and the fight against climate change. The fact that Mr. Guterres listens to young people’s opinions and values their ideas is very important to me,”

One may ask as to what is India doing at COP29? There is no high-level representation at the forum. India seems to have followed the footsteps of the US, China, Germany and Brazil.

But, the Prime Minister could have snatched the initiative even if the big guns were absent and presented the voice of the world’s largest democracy to democratise the environment. Of course, to do that one requires credible on-ground action to back-up. Such an action is absent.

Guterres minced no words to warn that time is running out and the world is in the “final countdown to limit the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius."

India's lead negotiator at CoP29 is Naresh Pal Gangwar, additional secretary in the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC). He said extreme weather events are so frequent and increasingly strong, that the impacts are being felt by the people of the Global South, especially. He highlighted that the impacts of Climate Change are increasingly becoming evident in the form of one disaster to another.

There is, therefore, a need for heightened ambitions on climate action. “We are at a crucial juncture in our fight against Climate Change. What we decide here will enable all of us, particularly those in the Global South, to not only take ambitious mitigation action but also adapt to Climate Change. This CoP is historic in this context”, Gangwar said.

India's intervention reiterated that the developed countries need to commit to provide and mobilise at least $1.3 trillion every year till 2030, though grants, concessional finance and non-debt-inducing support that cater to the evolving needs and priorities of developing countries, without subjecting them to growth-inhibiting conditionalities in the provision of finance.

But who listens to such a feeble voice? The so-called intervention was limited to an official press release which the media picked up as a mere protocol.

Trees are the basic requirement for a good environment, yet we neglect them. Legendary environmental champion Jane Goodall wondered as to why there are so few trees in Mumbai! We know the reason. It is because every available square inch (not just square foot) of land is being concretised. Even the open and tree areas are falling victim to the axe called development. Take the example of Mumbai-Nagpur Samruddhi Maha Marg to make way for which the government axed some 2,30,000 trees. But the government plans to plant 11 lakh trees. It takes anything between 10 to 20 years for any tree to fully grow. Do we need to say more except that the public apathy and official inaction equals a toxic combination for disaster? But we shall keep raising our voice at the cost of being branded as Urban Naxals.

(The columnist is a Mumbai-based author and independent media veteran, running websites and a youtube channel known for his thought-provoking messaging.)