CLIMATE ACTIONS - 'NOW OR NEVER'

MONOJ GOGOI

Several parts of India have been undergoing severe heatwaves since April and this year April becomes hottest April after eight decades. News reports, national and international, claim that more than 25 people have died so far due to high atmospheric temperatures.

On the one hand mercury level is going up and simultaneously power cuts become a major issue particularly in northern and western states of the country. The cause of the disruption in supply of electricity is identified as limited coal storage in coal-based thermal power plants. In the last two years power consumption was relatively lower in the country due to the lockdowns imposed understanding the gravity of Covid-19 situations. But for this year the government did not pay much attention this issue and some issues arose in grids too. But the point is to be speculated here is that the combustion of fossil fuels, coal and gas, emit immense amount of Green House Gases to atmosphere which contributes in increasing global warming. This has been going to be a vicious circle, ‘more hot more burning of coal, more burning of coal more warming’.

The scientists from Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said in a report last month that ‘now or never’. This means we have a very little chance to avoid climate catastrophes in recent future. We are heading towards the tipping point, but still we are ignoring. According to climate scientists the temperature of the earth is going to rise 1.5C in next five years from the period of pre-industrial era. In Conference of the Parties – 15 (CoP – 15), Paris Agreement it was a resolution that only 1.5C would be allowed to increase in 2100, if this benchmark wouldn’t be possible than it wouldn’t be more than 2.0C. But the temperature is rising alarmingly.

The COP – 26, which was held last November in Glasgow, India just committed from ‘phase out coal’ to ‘phase down coal’ towards the last minutes of the conference. All the climate events – floods, droughts, desertification, cyclones, storms, landslides, avalanches, tornadoes in various intensities and frequencies, are reminding us every time that we need to take up steps to keep the earth as liveable planet for the upcoming generations.

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LOW YIELD OF BETEL NUTS HITS RURAL ECONOMY IN ASSAM THIS YEAR

MONOJ GOGOI It's the harvesting period of betel nut or supari (areca nut) in Assam. But the yield of betel nuts is discernibly low this year in all the districts of Assam compared to previous years. Chandan Boro, who plucks betel nuts, with Ranjit Basumatary and Raju Basumatary in this season in various villages under Gogamukh revenue circle of Dhemaji district in Assam says that in this harvesting season of betel nuts they are not getting as much works as they did in previous years. He says in the orchards where we plucked 20 quintals last year, this year's yield in the same orchard is less than 5 quintals. In many trees not even a single nut is found and in which trees nuts are there, it's comparatively very few. Ranjit Basumatary says we are roaming from village to village but the situation is the same. "We are shocked to see the drastic change in the crop yields", he adds. Biren Pegu, a betel nut grower from Goroimari are...

Saving Assam's Communities: A Scientific Approach to Riverbank Erosion

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RIVER BANK EROSION DISPLACES MILLIONS IN ASSAM

MONOJ GOGOI Massive river bank erosion in Assam has been displacing hundreds of thousands families across the state over decades since India's Independence in 1947. In recent years, the intensity and frequency of floods and erosion have also been increasing in the state. A photo of the IAG meeting in Lakhimpur. According to experts the behavior of rivers in Assam changed just after the Assam Earthquake of 1950 which was measured 8.7 in the Richter scale. The earthquake and the aftershock elevated the river beds of all rivers in Assam. Some rivers including Subansiri changed channels during the earthquake. It is estimated that since 1950 about 4.27 Sq km of land has been eroded by the Brahmaputra and its tributaries in Assam. In a recent statement CK Das, former Additional Chief Secretary of the state said that the size of the land that fell in river bank erosion would be about 5000 Sq km. But it is believed that the furious fast flowing rivers eroded mass more l...

CLIMATE CARE - NORTHEAST INDIA

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