KOCHI: Coastal zones, freshwater bodies and arable land across the globe suffer from ‘fertility paradox’, says professor Rob Roggema, Spatial Transformations and Design Expert, Sustainable Urbanism, Hanze University of Applied Sciences, Netherlands.
He was addressing the International Conference on Impact of Climate Change on Hydrological Cycle, Ecosystem, Fisheries and Food Security (ClimFishCon 2020) at Le Meridian Convention Centre, Kochi.
‘This less discussed paradox is glaring. The fertile zones in both land and sea make them extremely attractive for people to occupy. This eventually leads to unlimited occupation and exploitation of these areas posing threat to the natural ecosystem. The people then start prioritizing economic growth over the natural features that bring us life. And we end up destroying the regenerative power of the land and the sea, leaving it uninhabitable,” he said.
While doing this, we also ignore that inherent risks in these zones increases with the looming threats of climate change such as sea-level rise, higher intensity of storms and hurricanes or flooding due to increased discharge of heavy rainfall from inland. “For preserving the ecological balance and respecting the earth that hosts us, we need to assert in every sphere of our activity that parasitism has no place and natural sustainability is the key to urban development,” Roggema said.
Dr B Madhusoodana Kurup, founder vice-chancellor, KUFOS and Organizing Chairman, ClimFishCon, said that preserving wetlands need a paradigm shift in conservation ethics, for the resource, by its very nature is ‘conserved and protected’.
While water is life, wetlands that receive water and waste from upstream sources are regarded as ‘kidneys of landscape’. They are life support systems that ensure the functioning of the water cycle. Extensive food chain and biological diversity in wetlands make them ‘biological supermarkets’, he said. Wetlands and peatlands store at least 550Gt of carbon which is almost double the amount stored in the world’s forests. Though they cover only 3% of the landmass, they carry 30% of the soil carbon. It is estimated that 64 to 71% of wetlands declined in the 20th century, of which 35% happened since the 1970s.
February 2 is observed as World Wetland Day—the date on which Ramsar Convention on Wetlands was adopted, with India is a signatory. It is noteworthy that even a small nation like the UK has designated its 161 wetlands as Ramsar sites, whereas India, being a mega-diversity country, has only managed to delineate a mere 26 sites so far. Clearly we need a lot more conservation efforts, Kurup said.
The conference, on its second day, held scientific sessions on natural hazards and disaster risk management. The sessions focused on climate change impact on natural disasters, climate change adaptation, Coastal Vulnerability Assessment techniques, Coastal erosion management, Predictability of extreme weather events and environmental tipping points, monitoring and surveillance systems, risk reduction and disaster preparedness, post-disaster management and mitigation strategies.
‘Sustainability in Kerala has a long way to go’
Justice Devan Ramachandran of the High Court of Kerala in his inaugural address had pointed out that given our vulnerability to extreme climatic events, designing, building and embracing sustainable ecosystem and resilient infrastructures are the only solution for survival. “Scientific studies invariably show that human activities have significantly contributed to climate change and global warming. We still have time. It is our collective and individual responsibility to fight climate change and leave the planet for future generations in better shape,’ he said.“The recent heavy rains and flooding have sufficiently signalled that city dwellers also should be as prepared. The designs and strategies to deal with extreme weather events in farmlands, cities and coastal belts may vary. But we all equally need climate-resilient and responsive infrastructures at all levels which foresee, prepare for, adapt to, withstand and rapidly recover from disruptions caused by changing climatic conditions,” he added.