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Farmers voice their concern over impact of climate change

Photo: Rohit Jain Paras

Straight talk: A farmer putting across his views during the regional public hearing on climate change Jaipur on Wednesday.

JAIPUR: Farmers, peasants, labourers and civil society representatives from 12 rain-fed States attending a regional public hearing on climate change here on Wednesday called for taking long-term “ameliorative measures” for dealing with the consequences of global warming which could destabilise the economies and shatter the lives of people in these regions.

The sixth regional public hearing was organised here in the run-up to a national consultation to provide inputs to the country’s leadership for the Copenhagen Climate Summit to be held in December. All the public hearings have recorded the grassroots voices and testimonies from different agro-climatic zones.

A jury of eminent citizens, comprising former Rajasthan High Court judges, Justice V.S. Dave and Justice Panachand Jain, State NREGA Commissioner Rajendra Bhanawat, scientist Suman Sahai, activist C.K. Ganguly, ecologist Arun Kumar “Pani Baba”, agricultural expert Manhar Adil and lawyer Sunita Satyarthi, conducted the hearing.

The jury said the national development goals should be redirected to bring in inclusive justice and equity between communities, while keeping ecological sustainability in clear focus. It also demanded that the National Action Plan on Climate Change be brought to the public domain for widespread discussions.

“The international negotiators should be apprised of the disastrous impact of climate change on agriculture, food and water security, forest and environment, livestock and health,” said Mr. Justice Dave. He said the inputs of all stakeholders should be taken on board to make the Copenhagen deal respond to the needs of developing countries.

According to the jury members, it was the duty of the developed countries to own the impact of their historical emissions and expedite the process to arrive at a deal that addresses the issues of equity and justice in the available carbon space.

Aditi Kapoor of Oxfam-India – the main organiser of the event – said the climate change would primarily affect the poor people who had limited resources and capacity to respond or adapt to the changing weather patterns.

Sharad Joshi of the Centre for Community Economics and Development Consultants’ Society, the host in Jaipur on behalf of Oxfam-India, said the people from the lower strata having the minimum adaptive capacity would be represented through a group of farmers from Rajasthan at the UNFCCC platform in Copenhagen during the summit.

Vijay Pratap Singh, convener of the public hearing, said the question of climate justice was related to the current paradigm of development which was largely influenced by finance capitalism and market dominance.

The public hearing gathered numerous testimonies which would work as evidences to influence the decision makers on the urgency of the issue of climate change. These depositions clearly established the link between climate change and poverty.

Bali Ram, a farmer from Bundelkhand, expressed concern about the small and marginal farmers in his region, saying that climate change had not only affected the cropping pattern but also changed the socio-economic conditions: “There is a large-scale corruption in awarding job cards and wage payment under the government’s schemes.”

Forty-year-old farmer Ramashankar from Chhattisgarh pointed out that climate change had led to social crimes and immorality in the society, besides affecting bio-diversity and environment. He said the local municipal bodies were allowing the pesticides to pollute the water bodies without hindrance.

Farmers from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar said the precipitation and the number of rainy days had come down significantly and disrupted the entire agricultural cycle in the region during the last five years. Tribals and pastoralists from Jharkhand and Gujarat said their livelihood opportunities and income from the forest produce had significantly reduced as a result of decrease in the forest cover and they were often compelled to migrate to the nearby urban areas.

Representatives of non-government organisations from these States also attested to the loss of a number of species of plants, pests and insects because of the increase in temperature.

Many other testimonies from various States manifested how the local economy, people’s livelihood, living conditions, traditions and culture had been impacted adversely due to the change in climate, increase in temperature and alteration in the monsoon pattern.

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