The world has its environmental conservation challenges cut out. It must forge a resilient strategy for 2021 and beyond

The COVID-19 pandemic caused unprecedented human suffering and its socio-economic impact was felt globally. Environmental deterioration too, seems to have accelerated during this time, if the slew of extreme weather events that took place this year are anything to go by.

In fact, 2020 was the third-warmest year on record, given that the global mean surface temperature for January-October was 1.1 to 1.2 °C   higher than the pre-industrial baseline (1850-1900). This has been followed by an unusually cold winter.

We know climate change as a phenomenon that denotes a gradual worsening of our environmental conditions but, this year has shown that the change is rapidly transitioning to a climate crisis. This means more bad news for humanity on the environmental front.

The University of North Carolina uses supercomputers to observe the effects of climate change. While presenting its findings at the National Institute of Environment Health Sciences-sponsored Global Environment Health seminar in June, the experts stated that unchecked Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions and air pollution were going to pave the way for extreme weather events in the 21st century.

The unanimous conclusion at the seminar attended by 400 experts from around the world was that there was an urgent need to flatten the GHG emission curve, similar to the emergency efforts being made to flatten the COVID-19 one.

Currently, the ambient air pollution caused by ozone and fine particulate matter is major cause for worry as it contributes to 3.4 million premature deaths worldwide. How many deaths in India are attributable to this cause needs to be worked out by the Government urgently, as studies suggest that pollution-related casualties will be the highest in densely populated areas.

At the same time, measures to reduce GHG emissions can exponential boost and aid global efforts to save human lives. According to the figures released by the University of North Carolina, if we are successful in bringing down GHG emissions, approximately 5,00,000 fewer premature deaths can be achieved by 2030 and this number can be taken up to two million fewer premature deaths by 2100.

Even though, the global lockdowns necessitated by the pandemic gave the world a breather by bringing down GHG emissions by 17 per cent, the resumption of economic activity will see the pollution levels climb up soon enough. Unless we take climate change and environmental degradation seriously and mend our ways, we are headed for disaster.

The climate crisis being triggered by the spiraling GHG emissions has left an indelible mark on the environment this year and has resulted in the exacerbation of extreme weather events. One of the most extreme weather spells was the Atlantic hurricane season that saw a record-breaking 30 storms between June 1-November 30. Apart from these storms and cyclones, heavy rainfall in several parts of Asia and Africa led to immense loss of human lives, property and livelihoods. Brazil, for instance, saw uncharacteristically high temperatures and droughts which caused major wildfires and resulted in a loss of $3 billion to the agriculture  sector.

India, too, has not been spared the adverse effects of climate change. A record-breaking cold wave in December 2019 continued well into January and this was accompanied by heavy rainfall throughout northern India. The national Capital received the maximum rainfall in 10 years and this led to a sharp plunge in temperatures in Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh (UP).

The vagaries of climate change again manifested themselves  in the form of untimely rainfall in March.  As many as 222 out of the total 683 meteorological districts in the country received excess rain. This was not only detrimental for agriculture but also adversely impacted the efforts of the Government to contain the COVID-19 pandemic which was spreading fast during that period.

Even as environmental experts attributed the freak rains to GHG emissions and global warming, the efforts to rein in the same have slipped time and again and the outbreak has only made the efforts to safeguard the environment that much more difficult. This is because, given the socio-economic impact of the contagion, countries will be tempted to keep environmental concerns on the back-burner in a post-Corona world. Shoring up their tottering economies will be their primary concern for a long time to come. This will lead to a Catch-22 situation as the pandemic was a result of environmental degradation in the first place. Along with the rest of the world, India, too, has its environmental conservation challenges cut-out. India must forge a resilient environment strategy for 2021 and beyond. Removing bottlenecks in renewable energy self-sufficiency must become a priority along with dialing down of dependence on fossil fuels. Just focussing on these two areas on a war footing will decrease GHG emissions and reduce ambient temperatures. This will result in controlling climatic extremities.

Similarly, allocation of sufficient funds is essential to ensure that the battle against climate change is fought on an even keel. In order to ensure this, the diversion of precious public money for needless projects must be identified and curtailed. Climate change is a reality but we still do not have a full blown climate crisis on our hands. If we  take sustainable development seriously even as we pursue our economic recovery goals diligently, we can hope to leave a better world for future generations. Else, as we have already witnessed,  climate change can prove to be a runaway train.

(The writer is an environmental journalist. The views expressed are personal)