The next war will not be over fuel...

[Guest guest]

Interesting article. I totally agree with the water war theory. It's

apparent even in the way the author wrote the article, by ignoring Nepal

completely. This is the unspoken war between Nepal and India, as Nepal is

essentially the future water tap for the rest of India. Perhaps one day

India will be kinder to it's peaceful neighbour to the North, when it needs

something Nepal has and India does not...

Jigs in Nepal

 

 

 

On 8/24/09 11:21 AM, " debasischak " <debasischak wrote:

 

> http://thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=3 & theme= & usrsess=1 & id=265740

> Nature serves notice~II ~ Future Wars Will Be Wars Over Water

> Ashok Kapur

> THERE is another drawback in many of the Western models of �development�

that

> are being followed by developing nations and relentlessly so by the

> international aid agencies. This is the concept of technology-led growth. Of

> course, it is the engine of growth, but all new technology needs to be

> evaluated and its impact on mass employment examined carefully before it is

> adopted.

> In Punjab, in the sixties and seventies, international aid agencies succeeded

> in pushing giant harvester combines to �modernize� agriculture. In a state

> where there was already a growing surplus labour, this turned out to be

> disastrous. Such technology may have been appropriate in a country like the

> USA where only around five per cent of the population is engaged in

> agriculture. But to transplant this technology in a developing country where

> seventy per cent of the population is engaged in agriculture, could only have

> proved counter-productive.

> Long before the modern technology-led models were the rage in the developed

> world, Mahatma Gandhi had cautioned against aping Western technological and

> economic models unquestioningly. Some critics had dubbed him as anti-modern

> and his economic philosophy as outdated. More than half a century later, the

> First International Commission on Environment and Development ~ the Bruntland

> Commission ~ was to prove the Mahatma prophetic. It admitted that modern

> technology has the power both to enhance and to degrade.

> Technology & ecology

> AS a leading Western expert has acknowledged: �Modern technology owes an

> apology to ecology.� The current environmental crisis is too overwhelming to

> be tackled by state action alone. All citizens are vital stakeholders in this

> venture ~ the government, civil society, business and industry, women and

> children. All sections of society must eco-educate themselves for effective

> implementation of eco-friendly technologies and a simple lifestyle that limits

> man�s demands on an increasingly fragile environment.

> Gandhism is arguably the most �scientific� development model that preaches

a

> sustainable lifestyle, a point missed by the Bruntland Commission when it

> spoke of �sustainable growth.� It overlooked the fact that in the long

term,

> �sustainable development� could only result from a sustainable lifestyle.

The

> two are inter-dependant. Gandhism stresses �experimential investment� over

> material acquisitions. In the Western economic models, man acquires

> possessions today with tomorrow�s income. Gandhian economics teaches us to

> acquire possessions tomorrow with today�s income. As a result, man is the

> proud possessor of the goods. Under the Western model, the goods come to

> possess the man.

> That the Gandhian model is rooted in the traditional Vedic wisdom of India, is

> a point that has been noted by Al Gore. The latter has acknowledged that

> unique amongst civilizations, the Indian tradition teaches man to treat the

> natural resources as a precious heritage. Take the case of water. Fresh water

> is treated as sacred and not just another natural resource. The Ganga has been

> revered as Mother Ganges from time immemorial. As per conventional wisdom, the

> sacred river flows from the matted locks of Lord Shiva. In other words, fresh

> water is a divine dispensation.

> One major fallout of climate change is shrinking fresh water sources

> worldwide. The UN environmental agencies have unanimously warned that

�future

> wars will be wars over water.� The projected rate of the rise of temperature

> is 0.2 Celsius every decade. As a consequence, more people will die of thirst

> than of hunger.

> There is another glaring example of the way in which �modern� technology

> sometimes proves counter-productive. During the sixties and the seventies of

> the last century, �taming� of rivers through large dams was common in the

> West. These were touted as near-permanent assets for development. Apart from

> controlling floods, these would provide for power, fisheries and irrigation.

> We have now realised that most of the large dams have proved to be mixed

> blessings. Their disadvantages outlast their advantages. So much so that the

> Bruntland Commission, which conducted a comprehensive study of the mega river

> dams, concluded that �undamming� existing large dams is a sign of

progress,

> rather than building new ones.

> This �modern technology� is in contrast to the traditional wisdom of

India; to

> dam free and flowing fresh water is to damn it, in a manner of speaking. In

> the Vedic tradition, flowing water is referred to as �live� and stored

water

> is referred to as �dead�. Modern irrigation experts tell us that it is

only

> flowing river water that is suitable for regular irrigation. Stored water

> reduces both the fertility and productivity of land over time, by denying it

> micro-nutrients that flowing water provides.

> �Water wars� have already begun. None would know it better than we do in

> India. It is another matter that Indian military experts have overlooked the

> strategic implications of the issue altogether. They have instead been harping

> on the political aspects. It is just as well that the looming threat of

> climate change has refocused our attention.

> Tibet�s glaciers

> THE first �water war� of the twentieth century was the Chinese occupation

of

> Tibet in the fifties. China has been chronically short of potable water. The

> folklore of Tibet refers to their land as the �Third Pole� or the �Water

> Tower� of Asia. The Tibet plateau contains more than 45,000 glaciers, the

> largest ice mass in the world, apart from the two uninhabited poles. It

> supplies fresh water to four of the largest rivers of Asia. Tibet�s glaciers

> meet the water needs of around fifty per cent of the world�s population in

> countries as far apart as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan , Vietnam and

> Cambodia, besides China.

> In sum, the threat of climate change is the greatest challenge facing

> humankind today. Conventional response to a very unconventional challenge may

> well spell the doom of humankind. Although solutions, based on expertise, are

> certainly required at the micro level, a macro level philosophy of a simple

> lifestyle will alone provide a workable �model� in the long run. A

holistic

> concept that incorporates essential Gandhian values is the crying need of the

> day. As Bacon said: �There is only one way to command Nature, and that is to

> obey it.�

> ______

> ----

> Debasis speaks on Wildlife Smuggling to a group of 65 officers and

> employees:Compassionate Crusaders Trust (CCT), a Calcutta NGO working on

> animal rights and wildlife protection, was invited to an awareness workshop

> organised by the chief commissioner of central excise and customs,

> Bhubaneswar, on the �Role of central excise & customs officers in the

> conservation of wildlife�. -Central Excise Day (February 24),

> Bhubaneswar , February 24,2003

> It was unnecessary to speak about the laws, since the Customs and Excise

> people knew them fully well. It was futile to repeat the impressive facts and

> figures dwelt upon by Mr.Biswajit Mohanty of the Wildlife Society of Orissa.

> What people need everywhere is motivation, and this is the theme chosen by

> Mr.Debasis Chakrabarti in his hour-long speech.

> He began quoting H.G.Wells (The Time Machine) who wrote that the world has

> progressed from agriculture to paradox. The paradox is that although we have

> made a substantial amount of progress in information and technology, we still

> face the problems of insufficiency. This is the result of both uncontrolled

> overpopulation, and uncontrolled greed. As Mahatma Gandhi put it, " There is

> enough for every man�s need, but not for every man�s greed. "

>

> Debasis spoke informally and extempore, to the 65+ group of officers and

> employees, on a one to one basis. He pointed how greed was a very natural

> component of human nature, and accepted that it is difficult to hold on to

> values and suffer economically, especially when one sees others give in to

> temptation and flourish. He suggested that if greed there be, let it be for

> the luxury of knowing that one had the strength to resist a temptation which

> would have done incalculable damage to future generations. In this day and

> age, job satisfaction is a rare commodity, and at the end of the day,

> frustration and guilt erase the elation of outward appearances. There are

> comparatively innocuous items, and there are items which cannot be condoned by

> any allurement. The damage to the ecology, caused by the illegal trade in

> wildlife, is irreversible. The hype created by scientists lead the less

> informed to believe that cloning is the answer to every problem. This fallacy

> compounds the dam

> age to our environment, since people tend to take environmental issues more

> lightly. Nature took ages to develop her own balance. Mankind has brought it

> to a level where the fragile balance can be wrecked any time. A cloned tiger,

> for instance, can never contribute to the ecology once the tigers created by

> nature are extinct.

>

> Debasis made a few down to earth suggestions. One of these was that posters be

> put up at Airports, to alert uninformed couriers, and criminals, of the banned

> items. Another was a mention, on the immigration/ disembarkation forms, that

> the passenger is not carrying any of these contraband items. Yet another was

> to release the poacher with a warning, provided he gives a lead to the next in

> the chain of the traffickers.

>

> Debasis also emphasized upon the need to avoid inter-departmental feuds, and

> the urge to take credit. He lauded the Government for placing wildlife crimes

> under the CBI, so that a centralized information bank could get inputs from

> all the different agencies involved in the matter and also from the public who

> prefer to avoid revealing themselves. The fact that � after Mrs. Indira

Gandhi

> � Mr.Atal Behari Bajpayi was the first Prime Minister of India to take up

the

> issue seriously was significant and encouraging. Since this subject was

> finally receiving the importance it deserves, at the highest levels, it was

> obvious that everyone in the department would also have to give it due

> importance. That being the case, it was up to the individual. " I plead with

> you, with folded hands " he pleaded emotionally, " think about the affect of

> your action. Think about your grandchildren, and their children. Think about

> all the unborn future generations which are � literally � dependent upon y

> our choice, for their health and even existence. "

>

> Debasis pointed out the need to stop thinking about state our national

> boundaries, because the issue had a global effect, and the damage had to be

> controlled at base; where the animals and birds lived, where they were caught

> and killed; not just at the International borders after the damage was done.

> He told them about the crisis in U.P.�s Rajaji Park, where flying insects

were

> destroying 7,00,000 sal trees. Tribals had to be employed to kill these

> insects and save the forest area. This was the result of poaching of

> indigenous birds who had eaten these insects and controlled their population.

> This was just one example of some seemingly immaterial activity harmed us all.

>

> " The next war will not be over fuel, nor over religion, " Debasis warned. " It

> will be over water. Pure, drinking water, for which there is no substitute,

> and which cannot be manufactured by all our advance in science and technology,

> computerization or space exploration. It is time we place our feet solidly on

> the ground and prepare to face the grim consequences, unless we are prepared

> to sacrifice immediate, petty gain and comfort for long-term, essential

> benefits, and survival itself, for the entire human race. "

>

> THE TELEGRAPH

>

> Thursday, February 27, 2003

>

> NGOs called in to help save wildlife

>

> SUBHRO SAHA

>

> Can a cloned tiger contribute to ecology? How can thousands of sal trees be

> saved from flying insects whose population has spun out of control, thanks to

> rampant poaching of indigenous birds? How does one save the Olive Ridley and

> Gangetic turtles? In a significant move to curb illegal trafficking in

> wildlife and boost conservation efforts, the Central government has involved

> the expertise of NGOs working in the field " for the first time " , and a

> city-based activist body figures among those called to " share their

> experience " to bolster the knowledge base. Compassionate Crusaders Trust

> (CCT), a Calcutta NGO working on animal rights and wildlife protection, was

> invited to an awareness workshop organised by the chief commissioner of

> central excise and customs, Bhubaneswar, on the �Role of central excise &

> customs officers in the conservation of wildlife�. Held in the Orissa

capital

> on Central Excise Day (February 24), the workshop was attended by more than

> 160 customs and centra

> l excise officers. " It�s a significant leap forward to involve speciality

> groups and this effort can only improve motivation levels, " said Debasis

> Chakraborti, CCT founder, who did a presentation at the first-of-its-kind

> workshop. Biswajeet Mohanty from Wild Life Society of Orissa was the other

> expert to speak at the interface, inaugurated by chief commissioner of central

> excise & customs, Bhubaneswar, Sujoy Roy. " This is not a mere endeavour to

> pursue love for animals, but an effort to preserve our own natural resources, "

> Roy told the participants. Dwelling on the menace of illegal traffic in

> wildlife products, he stressed on the need to " control the damage at the

> base " , where the animals and birds are captured and killed, " and not just at

> international borders " . CCT, which received the Venu Menon Award last year for

> its work in curtailing cattle-smuggling across the Bangladesh border,

> expressed concern at the increasing traffic of Gangetic turtles into

> Bangladesh through th

> e state�s " porous " borders. " The turtles, sold clandestinely in markets

across

> West Bengal, constitute only about five per cent of the total catch. The rest

> are smuggled into Bangladesh, where it�s not a protected species and

> consumption of its meat is legal, " said Chakraborti. The CCT suggested that

> posters be put up at airports to alert uninformed couriers of banned items, or

> a mention made on the immigration/disembarkation forms that the passenger is

> not carrying contraband stuff. The NGO lauded the Centre for placing wildlife

> crimes under the CBI, so that a centralised information bank could get inputs

> from all the agencies involved, and also from the public, protecting their

> identity.