Contemplating the last few months, a world that is just, peaceful and sustainable seems to be a distant cry. We are witnessing war and conflicts, climatic disasters, and technology takeovers like never before.
The year 2023 was the hottest on record and it has turn-tables upside for us. Today, climate-induced calamities are manifesting newer forms that we have never experienced before. Devastating flash floods have become a nightmare for many people across the globe.
Intensified global warming leads to more evaporation and more moisture in the atmosphere. This increases rainfall, paving way for more disastrous floods. Lately in Vijayawada, and other parts of India, floods have stranded thousands of lives and battered properties and livelihoods.
Landslides are becoming deadly, and India ranks fourth among the countries with highest landslide risk. It is a serious concern for many people and states that live and flourish in the mountains. The Wayanad incident still remains a sorrow for the country.
Intensified geo-political situations are waging into gruesome war and conflict. The world is witnessing a spike in the number of wars and conflicts. This declines the stability of the planet, and pushes humanity into deep fear and tension. They further worsen climate change and turn down our efforts for climate actions.
In short, conditions are going haywire, and we feel there is no light at the end of the tunnel. Even though the surroundings are desperate, there is news beckoning the ray of hope. Recently, a group of elderly women in Switzerland won a significant ruling holding the governments accountable for addressing climate change. The success of this case will give traction for many such climate litigations in the coming years.
Another exciting thing will be India’s first hydrogen train. It is anticipated that the train will be on track by the end of 2024 under the hydrogen for heritage initiative. If plans go accordingly, it is a significant step towards another technological advancement only if effluent nitrogen oxide is managed in hydrogen production.
If we recap what has been happening from last year, one thing is crystal clear: environmental calamities has no bias among geographies, ethnicities and seasons. In 2023, Ecopreneur India highlighted that preparedness and disaster risk reduction are key to thriving in a new environment while synergizing with technologies.
The new technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics is an asset in climate action and well-being of civilization. AI being used to crunch large datasets and synthesis data for climate action. Robots can be deployed in search and rescue operations during unpredictable situations in a disaster.
Despite that, technologies have their own limitations. For instance, AI cannot grow food without promptness. Or, AI cannot bring down global temperature or sea-levels. There are areas in which human intervention is a must.
In the last four years of our journey, we recommended several policy level inputs while becoming a trusted voice on behalf of ecopreneurs. One key value which drives all the way is enabling new economic opportunities while addressing environmental issues.
After close observation of climate calamities in 2024, on behalf of Ecopreneur, we are recommending a strategy, ‘Climate Protection Force’. A comprehensive crisis management mechanism. Imagine a dedicated department which acts powerful in parallel with other pillars of constitution for identifying, organising and prompt response.
In the current state, it is evident that there is a lack of coordination and clarity among environmental/climate departments which has to co-ordinate at multi level power hierarchies. Even though we have a number of departments entrusted to protect biodiversity, the presence of vast number of divisions and subdivisions, neither policy makers nor the public have status on real time environmental happenings.
Apparently, the current departments are becoming post disaster response orientation rather than stopping or minimising climate calamities
India is home to more than 80 percent of people who are at risk of climate-induced disasters. India ranks at 176 among 180 countries in the Environmental Performance Index 2024. Climate Protection Force is an idea to streamline all the environment protection tasks, climate action activities, and climatic-disaster management into one umbrella with participatory governance.
