June 05, 2008

While developed countries are the biggest culprits in the degradation of the environment, developing countries must act now to protect themselves from further damage

In April this year, as the developed countries of the world decided to switch off their lights for an hour to respond to the much hyped initiative by the World Wildlife Fund, the Earth Hour, a miniscule commitment was evident on the part of the elite nations to the fact that the environment has been hurt for too long by mankind and that it was payback time.

Citizens of these countries, however, knew that an hour of lights being turned off meant that they would soon be back to a sure 24/7 use of electricity. Such an initiative, however, in a country like Pakistan is akin to a conspiracy of the government against its people. Lights going out here can mean anything from a four- to five-hour stretch to a 24-hour breakdown, or even longer.

It is an irony of fate that we are at the receiving end. All developed nations, the polluters who are responsible for contributing almost 80 per cent of the world’s carbon dioxide gas emissions, may participate in campaigns like the Earth Hour, sip coffee by a roadside café in candlelight, and return to their cosy homes once the lights can be turned on again, having happily appeased their conscience.

Though the effort was not meant to make a direct impact on reducing gas emissions, the organisers were happy to see the amount of interest towards environment crisis and climate change.

Surely the environmental clutter made by mankind has to be cleaned in a concerted manner. According to a report by the WWF, “Humanity is now consuming over 20 per cent more natural resources each year than the earth can produce,” which means too many mouths to feed through depleting natural resources. Regarding food crises, the British High Commission officer informed at an event that there will be a further surge in world food prices due to climate change, which he conceded was “a fruit of the industrial revolution”.

On the home front, Pakistan wallows today in its own set of home-grown issues, and the government seems aware of the fact that we are faced with threats to food security due to a decrease in the production of food crops because of water shortages and unpredictable climate changes. Further, a mishandling of resources and a heavy dependency on the burning of fossil fuels have contributed in its own way to rising environmental degradation and global climate change. The proportion of mass migration from rural to urban areas is also expected to rise by 50 per cent by the year 2020 in Asian countries. However, there is a lack of enough foresight, juxtaposed with misplaced priorities that have borne little meaningful results.

There is enough awareness of environmental issues today, both within the masses and the policymakers, but the question is who bells the cat, and the right one. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a UN body that vociferously endorsed, in 1998, the NASA scientist James Hansen’s fears that humans were responsible for contributing to global warming, has been going hoarse crying about the environmental threats we now face in the name of climate change. But more than the developing countries, the developed need to understand the severity of environmental disasters looming large.

The European Union recently pledged that it will “agree to laws to implement their ambitious goals for combating climate change, (and) promised to soften the blow of heavy industries”. This is a step in the right direction but it is just a drop in the ocean.

The Kyoto Protocol that expires in 2013, is yet to be replaced by another rationale, while meetings in Bali last year have remained largely fruitless due to the fact that ‘the polluters’ were divided on cutting back their gas emissions while the climate negotiators pressed for a ‘binding down’ agreement by 2009. This would also mean profiteers compromising on earning lesser amounts of money, and it would surely take a lion’s heart to turn away from big money.

This scenario does not absolve developing countries like Pakistan of their responsibility. Water is fast depleting while natural calamities are taking place all over the globe with increasing frequency. According to a report, there is evidence that Karachi could be the next target for a tsunami as it is perched on a location of three seismic fault lines. The mangroves along the city’s coastline, a possible means of deflection to such a natural calamity, are also being destroyed. Let’s not wait for the wrath of Nature; let’s mend our ways now and work towards a healthier environment.