& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Global Warming May Cause Drowning of Island States

by Ravi Srinivas
GLOBAL warming Is now a widely accepted fact. Scien tists predict that a rise in temperature by a few degrees could result In the melting of polar tcc and ocean levels will rise. The Inter-Governmental panel on Climate Change (IPCC) chairperson Bert Botin had warned that there was no longer time to use the remaining uncertainties about global warming and climate change as an excuse for inaction.
The small island states have tiny land areas compared to their Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) and for many of them land forms less than 0.001% of the total area of the EEZ. Often the maximum height above the sea level is less than 10 metres and even a small change in the sea level could cause disasters for them.
They constitute about one-third of the countries tn the Commonwealth in terms of numbers and many small Island states are small archipelagic states. But. wen It comes to cultural diversity and linguistic heritage they are unique. John Pernetta points out that one-third of the world's languages are spoken in the five island countries of Melanesia.
Now these countries are trying to assert themselves In the international arena to safeguard themselves from the disastrous consequences of global warming. For them It is not the mere loss of life, their very existence as states and communities with distinct cul-tural practices and Identities is
Thus it cannot be reduced to the loss of a few hundred or a few thousand square metres of land. They are also home to a rich biodiversity. Unique species, both marine and terrestrial. fish. Insects etc arc found tn small island states. Many of them have yet to be classified and studied.
They are no longer willing to remain as passive spectators in international environmental negotiations. They have formed an association, the Alliance of Small Island States' (AOS1S). to put forward thclr concern and to evolve a common viewpoint on the global warming issue.
In November 1989 they articulated thefr concern through the Male Declaration. Representatives from Kiribati, Maldives. Malta. Mauritius, Trinidad and Tobago met in Male, the capital of Maldives, to bring to the attention of the global community the threat of global warming to small Island stales
AOSIS was formed in October 1990 at the Second World Climate Conference with the assistance of the Caribbean Community, Common Market Secretariat. South Pacific Regional Environment Programme and Centre For International Environmental Law. Its 30 members arc from the Indian Ocean, the Caribbean, the Pacific, African, Atlantic and Mediterranean
regions. In terms of voting this alliance has emerged as the single largest bloc and has the potential to become a major influence In climate change negotiations. AOSIS was awarded in June 1991 the Climate Institutes award for galvanising a truly global response to the climate change problem.'
But they know that industrialised nations have yet to arrive at a consensus on this issue. The US has been arguing that the scientific evidence or lack of any evidence should be assessed in the context of chaos that would result from extreme preventive action.
In simple terms it is not willing to change its energy policy and. compared to the action taken by many other nations In setting the targets for cutting emissions or stabll istng the level of emissions, the response of the US is negative. In fact projected emissions under the US Climate Change Strategy Im piled at 15% rise by 2000 AD in carbon dioxide emissions from 1990. levels. The Climate Pact talks are progressing very slowly.
Panlneu. prime Minister of Tuvalu, has pointed out that the destructive effects of climate change were being felt tn their Islands. The major threats Include reduction In drinking water and the affected production of food crops. The average rainfall had fallen over the past eight years
Tuvalu is very vulnerable to the Impact of global warming. None of the nine coral atolls of this Island state in the South Pacific Ocean are more than 4 metres above the sea level.
For such states, even a rise of a few metres in the sea level would spell disaster and ulti-mately extinction if the rise is unchecked They expect the International community to help them In facing this grave threat to their survival. Yel the response has been far from encouraging.
The response of JR Spradley, a member of the US delegation to an International meeting on Global Warming to a plea from the delegation from Bangladesh, is. Tills Is not a disaster. It is merely a change. The area wont have disappeared. It will be under cows. Where you now have cows, you will have fish
What he forgot or did not bother to mention was. for the West the loss of a few million people or the extinction of cultures and small states hardly matters. They are victims of the maldevelopment of the West which is pumping out greenhouse gases beyond the capacity of natural systems to cope with.
The challenge before AOSIS Is daunting. It has to work for a global climate convention although its members can no way be held responsible for the global warming. When others; sins are visited on them and Issue a death warrant, the issue is not a question of fishes replacing cows. Theirs Is a Just struggle for survival. — Third World Network Features