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As the world today is shaken by the nightmares of the effect of
Global Warming, Manipur cannot follow a laidback approach as though, nothing is ever going to happen to the place.
Trust me, we will definitely get our share too!
The Fourth Assessment Report(AR4) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC) lays out shocking scenarios for the entire South Asian Region.
While the global temperature rise at a much faster pace, resulting to melting of polar icecaps and eventually inundating low lying agricultural lands, introduction of SEZs (which is catalysing reduction in agricultural land) is the worst possible.
According to the report, the Himalayan glaciers will completely vanish by 2035 (although I am a little sceptical about this). The great perennial rivers like Ganga, and Brahmaputra will become seasonal rivers.
This is going to devastate the crop production of India, leading to price rise.
An increase of 0.5 degree Celcius in winter temperature in India will reduce the wheat yield by 0.45 tonnes per hectare (Avg. yield of wheat in India is 2.6 tonnes per hect.).
For a state like Manipur where people survive on imported essential commodities, the question of price rise is haunting.
The country to be worst affected by Global warming will definitely be Bangladesh.
Most of the places in Bangladesh are less than 12 meters above the sea level. This is further aggravated by the fact that Bangladesh has a population size of that of Russia.
Its population density is one of the highest (10,000/sq.km.). As vast tracts of land in Bangladesh go underwater, displacing millions, where will these thirsty, hungry,and homeless people go?
Yes, exactly! The same applies to the farmers in other densely populated regions of India. Where will these people go???
The answer lies in the "Principle of Diffusion". Materials travel from denser to rarer region to achieve equillibrium.
Isn't North-East India a good option??
Today, Assam face serious crisis regarding population influx from Bangladesh and "other" places. Manipur is getting its own share too.
With a mere population size of 24 lakhs, the crisis is more severe for Manipur. There is a need for timely assesment and prevention of illegal population migration.
For that matter legal and illegal are the same. Who is going to asses whether it is legal or illegal? the Govt.? nay !
The purpose of the discussion are these -
1. It is time that we work together and also force, pamper, advise ...(you may do whatever is suitable for you) the
Govt.of Manipur to take note of the danger that lurks ahead of us.
2. It is time that we work to make the State Self-sufficient as regards to production of essential commodities. Production of 700 metric tonnes of potato at ishikpat with the guidance of Manipur Agri. Dept is one such step.
"Selfish", as, we humans are, no country is taking bold actions to reduce Greenhouse Gas Emission and will probably not do so. The European countries will have longer growing seasons if the temperature of the planet rises!
Taking all these facts into account, I feel that the problems that I have mentioned, is not far from becoming a reality and self preparation is the need of the hour.
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Peter Salam contributes to e-pao.net regularly.
He can be contacted at peter_salam(at)yahoo(dot)co(dot)in .
This article was webcasted on April 11th, 2007.
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