“Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam (One tree in the name of the mother) — the slogan given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi — is not going to save India from the adverse effects of climate change, environmentalist Soumya Dutta has said.

He emphasized the need for bringing about just systemic changes in reducing the threat from the global climate phenomenon.

“We need to change our approach to address the challenges arising out of the adverse impacts of climate change. Our policies should also be designed to introduce systematic changes that address the issue in a manner that does not harm the poor,” said Dutta.

Delivering a speech on Climate Change (Climate and Ecology Justice Convention) here at the Lohia Academy, the environmentalist said: “I am not opposed to planting trees. But that is not the solution. The problem is too big to be addressed through such measures. In the name of mining and other industrial projects, we chop down lakhs of trees and plant just a few and hope that things will be fine. These ad hoc measures will not help. Besides, the poor bear the brunt of climate change.”

Pointing out that developing alternative sources of energy was a step in the right direction, he said the unfortunate part was that this was being done in a manner that was affecting the poor and benefiting the rich.

“The money bags who earlier executed coal-fired power projects are now being paid for executing alternative energy projects. But this is being done in places like Rajasthan by displacing the poor who make a living by rearing goats and sheep. The same thing will happen in Odisha. As a result the poor are becoming poorer. Their land and other resources are being taken away in the name of so-called development,” Dutta said.

Stating that the human race has been a victim of climate change since the days of the Harappan culture, he said: “That culture vanished because of the ill-effects of climate change. It was adversely impacted by the eastward shift of the monsoon.”

In order to protect the environment, a study was conducted on the planetary boundaries in 2009. “Out of the nine planetary boundaries, six are already on the verge of extinction. We have started experiencing climate change. The speed with which ice on the Arctic is melting is a cause of concern. On the other hand, the temperature in the equatorial region is rising,” he said.

“The rise in temperature has already been noticed and 40 per cent of the coral reefs across the globe have already gone extinct and the remaining 60 per cent will go by 2060. The number of cyclones has gone up both in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea and impacted the livelihood of crores of people. We need to worry about it and act accordingly rather than giving false promises,” he said.

The environmentalists also cautioned that around 10 lakh species on the earth are on the verge of extinction. Most of them are insects that play a great role in the food chain. Once the food chain is broken, its impact can be felt in the next generation. “The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has set a target of reducing fossil emission by 45 per cent in 2030. We have to do it,” he said.

On the issue of agriculture, he said: “The farmers rely on a dependable monsoon. The agricultural activities started 10,700 years back and the temperature was stable for 10,000 years. In the last 100 years, the temperature has gone up by one degree following the start of industrialisation post-1850. But in the last one decade, the temperature has gone up by 1.4 degrees, threatening the livelihood and even the life on earth”

Dutta cautioned against the overexploitation of the earth’s resources. In 1971, we first overshot the productivity capacity of the earth. But by July every year, we overcome the earth’s productivity capacity and ultimately dig up the mother earth to eat its resources.

“We have no second earth. We have borrowed it from our children, and we have to return it back to them safe,” he remarked.