Home ›› 13 Aug 2022 ›› Editorial
The heat wave effecting the subcontinent has brought climate change to the forefront of the minds of South Asian countries. In a part of the world that is already politically unstable, a changing climate presents an existential threat that the entire region will need to deal with to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe. Also South Asia sits precariously on the front lines of the global climate crisis. As temperatures increase, the region which is experiencing a new climate normal is predicted to see hotter weather, longer monsoon seasons, and increased droughts. The region’s extreme vulnerability has long been apparent. More than half of all South Asians in eight countries have been affected by one or more climate-related disasters in the last two decades. The effects are far-reaching and devastating.
In Afghanistan, farmers face a second year of climate-induced drought, its worst in decades, at a time when nearly 19 million Afghanis are unable to feed themselves. In 2020, tropical Cyclone Amphan, one of the strongest cyclones ever recorded, displaced nearly five million people across India and Bangladesh. In the coastal states of Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka, rising sea levels, flash flooding and powerful cyclones pummel the coastline with increasing frequency. Temperatures and droughts are intensifying across the mountainous ranges of Afghanistan, Bhutan and Nepal. Given the current rates of global warming, the tiny archipelago nation of the Maldives in the Indian Ocean, the smallest country in the region, may be submerged in the not-too-distant future. Bangladesh one of the world’s most densely populated countries has become a world leader in coastal resilience and an inspiration for other climate-vulnerable nations.
Bangladesh has married impressive economic growth with savvy cyclone preparedness to reduce its storm casualty rate by a hundred-fold. With WBG support, Bangladesh has rehabilitated over 700 kilometers of vulnerable sea embankments to safeguard against storm and tidal surges and helped construct and rehabilitate over 1,000 cyclone shelters and 550 kilometers of access roads. Recent heavy heat wave accelerates the air temperature across the world. Many parts of Europe, particularly Germany, Portugal, and Spain are scorched due to the rising temperature Wildfire brought millions of people homeless and compelled them to flee the areas they could live. Other species are facing the existential threat. It poses a substantial challenge to protect biodiversity, which is an essential part of our ecological system. In other words, people and nations are wrestling to combat the crisis. Humans' breadth and depth anti biodiversity activities have made the ecosystem uncomfortable for other living species. We know that the variety of life on our planet, in any form and level, from very small to big can be categorized as part of biodiversity. Humans depend on biodiversity for many reasons, as we live in a cobweb world or ecosystem. It may be for sustenance, places of living, medicine for diseases, Shelters in predicament, beauty for mental happiness, to name a few. Besides, other species are highly dependent on biodiversity for many reasons. Animals and other things rely on biodiversity for seed dispersion, pollination, and extending their next generation worldwide. Consequently, we can say that any living species on the earth could endure without biodiversity. Thus, if we yearn to protect biodiversity, we must know the challenges first. If we can identify the challenges, then a solution is possible.
Main thing is habitual destruction. It damages wildlife habitats by wiping trees, forests for urban development, and agricultural land for natural vegetation. Humans encroach on wetlands such as rivers, waters, canals, and lakes and slash the living areas of other species. The degradation of mangroves and coral reefs is also responsible for damaging species' habitats. Moreover, nations eradicate natural beauties and habitats of other species for tolling the tourism sector to strengthen their economies. Such fastest changes are now appearing in many Asian countries. Ironically, Bangladesh is one of them. More than 25,000 species that are threatened are listed on the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Eighty-five percent of these are in danger of extinction due to destroying habitats that once supported certain species. Around half of the original forests on the planet have been removed, primarily for agricultural purposes, which has significantly contributed to habitat loss.A threat to native species, ecosystems, and habitats is posed by the introduction of non-native species to regions of the world outside of their normal geographic distribution. The introduction of some European rabbits for hunting and recreation on a single farm in Australia in 1859 is a notorious example of an invasive species. However, they rapidly grew and spread, endangering many of Australia's prevalent plant and animal species. Despite numerous attempts to control them, nothing has worked, including constructing rabbit-proof fences to resist rabbits entering the firms.
Biodiversity is in danger from all forms of pollution, but air and water pollution are hazardous.
For instance, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide waste gases are released into the air when fossil fuels are burned. These pollutants then reappear as acid rain, causing the soil and water to become more acidic and damaging the biodiversity and health of ecosystems. Some species find it more challenging to survive due to water pollution, which lowers the oxygen levels in the water. This is especially true when combined with rising water temperatures brought on by climate change. The growing human population poses threats with its corresponding rise in requirements and demands. The growth of towns and cities, the construction of supporting infrastructure (like highways), and the rising demand for resources like food and fresh water are the causes of this concern, possibly the most ambiguous of the five primary threats. A species may become extinct if the harvest pace exceeds the replenishment rate by human actions like planting trees or reproduction. Overharvesting occurs due to the massive use of species or natural habitats and resources. Overuse and poor management have endangered specific tree, fish, or food crop species. These situations have heavily reduced human and other species' net food production capacity. Recent heat waves in Europe, according to many reports, will plummet white production by around fifty percent this year. Addressing threats to biodiversity is a complex problem. Many international treaties have been introduced focusing on particular issues such as wetlands or the Antarctic to protect biodiversity. Nevertheless, the treaties do not always work correctly to safeguard biodiversity. Hence, the response from the community is crucial.
Elinor Ostrom, a political scientist and Nobel Laureate in 2009 for her contribution to policy science, introduced a theory to protect common resources. She developed eight principles after robust research on common pool resources that can effectively protect natural habitats and resources. The eight principles are following:
Boundaries that are clearly defined; advantages and costs that are proportionately equal; collective-choice structures; supervision; tiered repercussions; problem resolution; acknowledgement of the right to organize, at the very least; regarding assets that are a part of more extensive systems: nested businesses.
In 2018, in the tropical Indian state of Kerala, a deadly flood following an unusually high monsoon rainfall killed 500 people, impacted almost 5.4 million more and devastated the state’s economy. Implemented in 2021, the Resilient Kerala Program will help Kerala enhance its capacity to deal with potential shocks-natural disasters, climate change impacts, disease outbreaks and pandemics by mainstreaming climate and disaster risks into planning and investment processes. This means incorporating disaster risk planning into the master plans of central and local governments and helping make the health, water resources management, agriculture, and road sectors more resilient to calamities. Delivering climate action across South Asia will require strengthening the resilience of targeted systems combined with a robust financial system that can fund climate-smart transitions. That means helping our partners across the region to green the financial sector, scale up public and private finance by making climate central to financial decisions, and translate strategies into real-time investment plans.
How countries on the front lines of climate change across South Asia are paving the way for a more equitable, prosperous and cleaner future. Over the coming months we will publish more stories from South Asia on our new World Bank South Asia climate webpage that illustrate opportunities and solutions to boost climate action and accelerate climate-smart transition.
In conclusion, biodiversity is an integral part of our ecosystem and has been endangered due the unresponsive human activity. In such a critical situation, if we genuinely want to maintain the net of the ecosystem, we have to work together. Unless we take proper and efficient steps to recapture the natural ecological balance, we will face severe problems that can be difficult to solve. These are proactive steps that can prepare South Asian countries for a future where climate displacement will be a reality. Regarding cross-border migration, the best solution is for the region to work together to plan for the eventuality of regional migration flows so an orderly pathway can be in place when displacement events occur. However, whether this can be achieved in a region already full of geopolitical tension remains to be seen.
Climate change isn’t a new phenomenon for South Asia, and it will remain on the front lines of its effects for decades to come. The region needs to take advantage of its experience dealing with extreme weather events to form ambitious adaptation and mitigation policies to minimise the effects of climate change while continuing to develop their economies and lift communities out of poverty.
The writer is a researcher based in the UK. He can be contacted at [email protected]
