Ishaan Chauhan
India is one of the one hundred and seventy-five countries that passed a resolution to reduce plastic pollution. This resolution brought to the United Nations was weak because it gave freedom to each country to set its own goals. It was also said that no other legally binding treaty would be implemented in the light of development policies.
The report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Crisis (IPCC), which came some time ago, clearly shows that we have failed in the measures that were to be taken to prevent further warming of the earth. According to the Paris Agreement, steps were to be taken to ensure that the temperature of the earth does not increase further by one and a half to two degrees. For this, many countries had to take such measures that could stop the rise in temperature.
But so far no significant progress has been seen in this direction. According to the Paris Agreement, this goal was to be accelerated by 2025 and to cut greenhouse gas emissions by forty-three percent. Yesterday’s delay in taking meaningful steps in this direction has surrounded us with difficult challenges today. Like making ‘net-zero’ emissions a reality soon in the field of industry. An important step towards this goal is to use such materials or substances in construction work which are helpful in reducing pollution.
Recently, most of the countries of the world passed a resolution in the United Nations, taking a pledge to reduce plastic pollution. There is a close link between the climate crisis and plastics. Plastic alone accounts for 3.8 percent of global emissions, which has become a serious problem today. In this short journey from 1907 till today, the journey of plastic has turned from a miraculous discovery to a poisonous truth. Just a glance at the countless proofs of this fact makes one thing more clear.
It is that the earth is suffocating with this poison. Plastic pollution has spread to such an extent that in the coming three decades (by 2050) there will be more plastic waste in the ocean than fish. A terrible truth is that ninety nine percent of the plastic produced in the world remains in the world, and only twenty one percent of the plastic waste is recycled.
India is also not immaculate in this matter. Pre-pandemic 2019 reports suggest that this problem is not new. It can be guessed that after the epidemic, the problem would have become even more serious. A 2020 report clearly states that India is also a major country in the matter of throwing plastic in the oceans. A statement by the Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in Parliament says that plastic waste has doubled in the last five years and only a quarter of the waste produced is recycled. With these facts, does India deserve to be the voice of developing countries, as claimed in the House?
What is very strange in the light of all these facts and reality is that although India is among the one hundred and seventy five countries that passed the resolution to reduce plastic pollution. This resolution brought to the United Nations was weak because it gave freedom to each country to set its own goals. It was also said that no other legally binding treaty would be implemented in the light of development policies. Adopting this approach is completely against its own earlier establishment, as India had highlighted this fact in the International Environment Conference held in 2019.
After all, India agreeing to a legally binding treaty is no big deal. But given the fact that both our legislature and executive have a hesitation to act, this year’s budget looks blatantly anti-environmental.
such as permitting mining in Chhattisgarh’s vast Hasdeo reserve, knowing it would result in huge loss of forest; To introduce legislation in the House in the interest of horse-trading after five decades of ban; construction of a portion of the Konkan Railway at the cost of heavy forest damage; The widening of the Char-Dham road, despite the threat of landslides, naturally raises the question of where India will reach, when, like all these, the long-term interest of reducing plastic is driven by development or ease of doing business. Will you have to bow before the interests of
Many more such questions come to mind. India is the second most populous country in the world. In such a situation, when the effects of the climate crisis are coming to the fore fast, then surely many of our cities will be in more danger. So what option will we be left with? When there is a target of five lakh crores for the economy, will the environment be given importance in this growth, where it is equal to human desires, aspirations and not less than them? Will India fully participate in the efforts to save the environment?
On the IPCC report, the UN Secretary-General said that it is a huge indicator of the suffering of humanity and a symbol of the failure of the climate crisis. So it is imperative to think about how to change these situations. This change will start from our thinking, where it has been established that the environment is second and human desires are first. Whereas the truth seems to be the opposite. The need for a clean environment for the survival of living beings on earth, this thing has to be understood now.
If the problem is with the law or its enforcement, then the reason is the learning and learning being imparted. A research also revealed that the generation born after 1997 is very aware of the climate crisis. Therefore, it is very important to create an awareness about the environment, especially the policies that the governments are making, there is a need to be educated too.
Economic necessity and political advantages have been outweighed by one-dimensional development. Experts and critics have come to the conclusion that the climate crisis is now almost catastrophic. And it is clear that at the international level, weak policies are being promoted by us under the pretext of being a progressive country. Facts have come to the fore on reducing the use of plastics, which justify the contributions made at the national level insufficient.
In such a situation, the question to be asked is simple that if our focus is not on the processes to adapt to the climate crisis, then what is this economic development for? What does this situation say about the priorities of humanity when the very possibility of survival is in question? It seems absolutely necessary to warn people of this direct or indirect truth of the danger of life, but when it comes to the fore again and again that everything is weighed in terms of profit and loss, then everything is a loser. Looks like a war.