COP And Coping
The last month of last year saw another major international jamboree, with over 70,000 visitors descending on Dubai only for COP 28. For the uninitiated, the acronym is not part of some OTT series on cops and robbers, though many may draw an analogy – with some countries being the plunderers and the international community in the role of bungling policemen, unable to stop them. Here, it is the acronym for the 28th meeting of Conference of Parties, the apex body of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC). Apart from good intentions, declarations of undying care for the environment, and a torrent of words, the only real benefit may be that which the visiting hordes brought to Dubai’s economy.
Previous COPs – unlike many such global meets – did actually result in global agreements, like the Loss and Damage fund, to compensate countries for the ravages of extreme weather events, and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC), a non-binding national plan which includes targets for greenhouse gas emission reductions. Climate change and global warming are now no longer confined to research papers, but are visible on the ground. Limiting the rise in global temperature to 1.5*C (compared to the mean in pre-industrial years) is now an acknowledged necessity.
It seems there is now an alternative to degrading and decimating ourselves through war and civil strife. It is easy, because there is nothing we need to do: just going down the present path will ensure continuing global warming, leading ultimately to run-away temperature rise and the possible demise of life on earth. Far-fetched, yes; but a scientifically plausible scenario.
Meanwhile, extreme weather events have become common round the world (we have experienced numerous instances in India), even as global records are set year after year for hottest months, maximum rainfall, unprecedented droughts, etc. Also becoming visible are the effects of melting glaciers and rising seas. Apocalypse may be round the corner.
Yet, countries continue to argue about who is responsible, who should foot the bill, making technology freely available, limiting use of fossil fuel, and many other issues. Progress has been so slow, that it seems the main contribution of COPs is to the English language! To establish consensus, new phrases have been coined like “common but differentiated responsibility” or “transitioning away” (as, apparently, different from “phasing out”, just as some at the UN found “humanitarian pause” acceptable, but not “ceasefire”).
Though a cliché, nowhere is “think global, act local” more appropriate than for the environment. Sadly, though a global champion of sustainability, our local actions are quite contrary. Even as droughts and intense rains continue to plague us, deforestation goes on. Landslides result, as does worsening air pollution. Delhi/NCR is a much-publicised sufferer, yet permission is given for construction in the Ridge area in Delhi, and for farmhouses and a film studio in the Aravallis in Haryana. Tunnelling and mountain-cutting for road-broadening goes on in sensitive geologies, with “security” overriding all environmental considerations, endangering the lives of those whom “security” seeks to protect. Accidents like the one in Uttarakhand are an inevitable outcome.
We continue our dismal track record: vanity projects and politics trumps scientists. Sadly, it seems in many cases the cop is the culprit.
*The author loves to think in tongue-in-cheek ways, with no maliciousness or offence intended. At other times, he is a public policy analyst and author. His latest book is Decisive Decade: India 2030 Gazelle or Hippo (Rupa, 2021).
