BENGALURU: Climate change is here and now. Instead of depending on the government to act, every citizen must also act immediately in simple ways — walk instead of using vehicles, switch to LED, etc. With farmers also admitting that climate change (CC) is affecting them, they can look at other crops. Corporates, industries and large construction units should set targets for reducing energy use, suggests Dr NH Ravindranath, retired professor, Centre for Sustainable Technologies, IISc, and co-author of reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Assessment and the Karnataka State Action Plan on Climate Change- version-2. He points that while India has not yet submitted its climate change mitigation targets to the UN, there is a need for adaptation and mitigation plans at the panchayat level for drought and floods.
Is climate change for real? Do people have adequate knowledge about it?
Climate change is a long-term trend. There is no dispute that the Earth has warmed globally, with variations year on year. The long term mean trend — in temperature and rainfall — is increasing globally. Carbon Dioxide (CO2) concentration has also increased in the atmosphere, which has also made the Earth warmer. Cities are the global centres of emission (80%). In other countries, elected representatives, citizens and bureaucrats are well informed and climate change is also an election agenda. But here, we must ask how many corporators, MLAs, MPs, ministers know about climate change and what they have done. Many citizens also don’t know about it.
In Karnataka, we have seen abnormal rainfall, droughts and floods. Studies show that more districts will experience 10-30 per cent increase in rainfall and this is not good. More rain is more dangerous than less rain. People in cities do not feel climate change, but farmers know it. The biggest challenge for farmers is disturbed rainfall.
What can we do? Is there something wrong with the development model?
Development and utilising resources is not wrong. Simple lifestyle changes are needed and the youth can do a lot. Conserve, recycle and use water and paper efficiently. They can take public transport to schools/colleges. A culture of using electricity efficiently should also come from homes, schools/colleges.
Stringent monitoring of energy used is needed. All government, commercial and industrial buildings and malls should monitor electricity use and set targets like reducing energy use to 50 per cent over the next five years.
What can we expect from climate change?
We can expect rainfall to increase by 15-20 per cent in most parts of Karnataka in the next decade. So the problem will be managing surplus water, which may cause flooding and damage. There is also a prediction of high intensity rainfall, but the number of rainy days will decline. We need good disaster management staff. New strategies are needed to manage increased flooding. There are also predictions that there could be intense droughts for the next few years due to El Nino and La Nina effects.
What do you think the government is overlooking?
All state governments are preparing climate action plans, but they are not taking it seriously. They are just preparing it as the Centre asked all states to do so. Adequate research and analysis has not been done for practical mitigation strategies. The report is a means to identify and list out what industries, municipalities and governments can do, what development programmes can be chalked out, how mitigation measures can be taken and what needs to be adopted.
We need to prepare climate-resilient adaptation plans at the panchayat, block and watershed levels. We need climate-resilient panchayats because of floods and droughts. The government should take adaptation seriously and leave the mitigation to corporates, industries and individuals. Climate-resilient packages are needed for flood and drought plans. There is enough money with the government. It should work on how to make programmes like MNREGA and watershed development climate-proof.
Excessive sugarcane cultivation is said to be a worry. Is it true?
India is short of pulses and edible oils. We are importing two-thirds of edible oils. The amount of water needed for a hectare of sugarcane is equivalent to 3-5 ha of pulses and oil seeds production. We need to produce more oil seeds and pulses. Governments are hesitant to lay down conditions for farmers. There should be some disincentives for sugarcane and paddy cultivation and some incentives for oil seeds and pulses. The poor eat a lot of rice, but consume very little of oil and pulses. On the other hand, the rich have problems related to edible oil consumption. The government needs to have strong will here. Give choices and incentives.
How is construction affecting climate change?
The construction industry is among the biggest polluters. Cement industry is the Number One CO2 emitter. Cement, steel, aluminium and glass are four major contributors to global pollution and CO2 emissions. The biggest problem is to find a solution, especially cement and steel. There is talk of new, but cement has no immediate solution. Garbage incineration is very less and, after thermal plants, bulk coal is used mostly in the cement industry.
How difficult is the construction of green buildings? How are glass structures affecting climate change?
Instead of cement, other alternatives can be used and energy saved, like shifting to mud blocks. With optimised design, cement and steel use can be reduced by 30-40 per cent. But engineers and contractors do not want to, because alternate technology is considered a burden. Around 90 per cent of engineers have no knowledge of energy-efficient buildings. There is a need for stringent regulations.
Glass facade buildings are not needed in Bengaluru, it’s unscientific for warm places. Brick walls are better. The idea was copied from Europe without understanding the climatic conditions.
Where do you think the government has failed?
Efficient lighting is taking off only now, but implementation is slow. There is a policy to have solar panels, but there are problems in selling power to the grid. We should have had good public transport like the Metro in Bengaluru about 20 years ago, covering 100-500 km by now. We are doing it now, but it’s too late and too little.
India claims that compared to other countries, deforestation is less. But still, a lot more afforestation and investment needs to be done. In Karnataka, for example, investment in forestry has come down in the last 10 years. This should increase. Many countries in Europe have already announced that they will ban diesel/petrol cars by 2030. They have also announced shutting down coal power plants and China has announced to stop funding coal plant constructions globally. Governments have a major role to play. If the Centre says that by 2025, only electric buses will be manufactured in India, all companies will follow. Such stringent acts are required. India is yet to submit its climate change mitigation commitment for the Glasgow summit.
The government is now thinking of closing down thermal plants, but can that happen?
India is the only country where many plants are in different stages of construction and implementation. The government has still not made any commitment on not having more coal-based power plants.
It’s good to phase out coal but it will not happen in the next five years. The problem with solar and wind energy is storage, which is expensive. New technologies will be commercially available in the next 2-3 years.