The Hindu Business Line : Aiming a rocket at climate-change

The last report of the UN Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change has delivered a final warning to the world that unless steps are taken now on an urgent basis to stem global-warming, the future of mankind on the planet is extremely insecure. The point is that this warning is not unexpected; what is, is the continuing myopia-afflicted vision of some of the most important players in the international community, whose active participation in the campaign to prevent drastic climate-change is indispensable if life on Earth is to be given a fair chance of survival.

It is easy to name specific countries which have been dragging their feet on the subject of contributing their mite to costly schemes to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions into the atmosphere. But this is not the main problem as far as climate-change issues are concerned today. After all, the pursuit of self-interest has been the hallmark of mankind throughout the march of history, which has led, among other things, to exploitation of all sorts, on all sides of the political and social spectrum. Such sentiments, and the actions flowing from them, have always benefited one side for the time being, the roles being reversed in nearly every case with the passage of time.

A different proposition

But climate-change is a different proposition altogether because it makes no difference as far as human beings are concerned based on the colour of one's skin or the weight of one's wallet. As Barbara Ward said many years ago, we are all taking a ride on what may be called "Spaceship Earth", the inference being that if something goes wrong with the vehicle then we all suffer together, irrespective of whether someone has a billion people at his beck and call or whether someone else has an over-stocked arsenal full of bristling nuclear warheads.

If this is indeed the case, why then are some important global nation-moneybags not willing to see the writing on the wall? Is it because of a hidden confidence on the part of some countries that, even in the case of climate-change, they can pull out all stops at the last moment and avert impending disaster in the shape of extinction of human, and other forms of, life on Earth? Perhaps they have drawn a parallel with the scenario where a killer meteorite is hurtling across the heavens towards our planet, and mankind, with the help of the technological prowess it has developed and perfected over the centuries, manages to deflect it from its trajectory, thus earning for human civilisation a reprieve.

Costly technology

The problem is that climate-change cannot be halted with a rocket. It can be slowed down only by controlling the emission of certain identified gases into the atmosphere, for which costly technology is required. Economic assistance is required for the development of such technology and its dissemination throughout the planet.

There is no point in letting the developing crisis drift on to a higher, and more critical, plane using the argument that the rich should not be asked to foot a larger part of the bill just because they have the economic means to do so when the "biggest polluters", who are mostly poor and who have a much lower per capita income, are not being asked to contribute proportionately. If one wants to wear blinkers, so be it. But the chances are that those eyes will not be able to see an exotic sunset ever again.

RANABIR RAY CHOUDHURY

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