| These days in my travels I find myself often ending up with the wrong clothes. Last May, I was in Moscow where the weather forecast was “cold”. Instead, it was like an Indian summer. In December, I was in London where it was pleasant while in March it was snowing. In spite of modern technology, I find weather forecasting is a high risk profession. Climate change is something we are all experiencing. Global Warming is not science fiction any more but a looming reality. The United Nation’s Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has predicted that temperatures will rise by 4 degrees celsius by the end of the century. Climate change is caused by a variety of factors but our thirst for fossil fuels is at the heart of the crisis. Now, here’s the bad news. India will be one of the worst affected by climate change. According to the UN report, in the Himalayas, rapidly melting glaciers will cause floods followed by a dip in riverflow. The decrease could see the Gangetic plains turn infertile. Cholera and malaria would increase because of floods. Cereal yields in south Asia could drop by 30 per cent by 2050, devastating an agriculture-led rural economy like India. Food insecurity and loss of livelihood along with cultivable land is a nightmarish scenario. India’s vast coastline means flooding from rising sea levels could inundate thickly populated areas. It will also lead to salination of groundwater. There is the threat of a shrinkage of grasslands which has serious implications for India which has the world’s largest cattle population. Over 25 per cent of our plant and animal species will face extinction. This is the legacy we will leave our children unless we do something about it. It is a collective responsibility that has far-reaching implications. Unfortunately, India has a dismal record on this front preferring to point fingers at countries like the US rather than focussing on what it should be doing. Our cover story analyses the impact of global warming on India and what we can do to reduce the threat. Managing Editor Raj Chengappa, who put the story together, has written extensively on climate change and the environment. Our story, we hope, is a timely warning for India’s policy makers, and each of us as individuals. In the words of former US Vice-President Al Gore, who recently won an Oscar for his documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, on climate change, “We don’t have time to play around.” Two decades ago, when we heard warnings about the damage to the ozone layer, it was treated as an esoteric issue. Now we are all aware that there is very little time to tackle a global problem in which all countries have to cooperate. If we can reverse the trend or even slow it down, that will be the most precious gift we would leave for the generations to follow.
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