Who protects our environment?

You have ruined my dream and my childhood with your empty words. At that time I should have been at school, not here. Even though you have become the hope of all teenagers, you have not measured anything. Nor will you do anything. The entire ecosystem is crumbling. We are moving towards a huge and mass extinct creature. So I dare to talk about it. But you are only talking about money. You are talking about economic prosperity like in a fairy tale. '

Speaking at the 'Climate Action Summit' organized by the United Nations in September 2019, Greta Thanberg, the youngest engineer in the world, said it was shocking and thought-provoking.

As seriously as she linked her childhood to the future risks of future generations, she also pointed the finger at the leaders leading the world and the village, saying, "You haven't measured anything."

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The rising temperature of our common earth raises the question of whether human beings can survive on Earth. To put it bluntly, human beings have to face the crisis caused by the human race in today's world.

Man-made deforestation, greenhouse gas emissions, daily waste, destruction of wildlife, pollution from rivers to oceans, and numerous toxic uses of soil in the pursuit of economic growth have resulted in some countries disappearing from the world map.

On the one hand, with rising sea levels, coastal nations are facing a major crisis for their very existence. On the other hand, people living in the Himalayas are getting closer to the tragedy of avalanches and lakes.

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According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the average temperature of the Earth is rising by 0.82 degrees Celsius compared to the average temperature of the 20th century. This is an increase of about 0.18 degrees Celsius every decade since 1980. The study found that global warming was 1.2 degrees Celsius higher in 2016 and 2020 than the average temperature of the 19th century.

According to a public report dated August 8, 2021 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), endorsed by scientists from 66 countries and all members of the United Nations, man-made climate change is the main cause of global warming, cyclones, short-term heavy rainfall, floods, droughts and fires. The report warns that the situation could worsen if carbon dioxide emissions are not reduced.

In fact, the Earth's temperature has risen by 1.7 degrees Celsius since pre-industrialization, and its effects are visible on the surface. At the recent United Nations Climate Conference COP-26 in Glasgow, delegates from around the world pledged to keep global temperatures as high as possible at 1.5 degrees Celsius and not to allow them to rise above 2 degrees Celsius.

But with the failure to implement the 2015 Paris Agreement, there are concerns about the extent to which COP-26 commitments will be fulfilled. Scientists estimate that if carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions are not reduced in the coming decades, the emission rate will continue to rise at the current rate, reaching 3 degrees Celsius by the end of the 21st century.

Because it is important to reduce the temperature of our common earth, a mere 0.01 percent increase in temperature increases the risk of extinction of thousands of species in and out of the oceans. Once upon a time there were dinosaurs on earth. Today, however, dinosaurs are among the most endangered species.

In the same way, many other species of animals and plants become extinct. With the extinction of these species, it damages our ecosystem and we humans have to bear the brunt of the ecosystem. According to the US Center for Biological Diversity, one-third of the world's species will be extinct by 2050 due to global warming if greenhouse gases are not cut.

What is frightening is that if this happens, it will cause irreparable damage to biodiversity and will directly affect the ecosystem of the world and the daily life of human society. Due to our erroneous global policy on environment and the power struggle of the nation to stay strong, so far no one has considered the issue of global warming, common environment, clean air / water as important issues. But with rising temperatures, more than a million different species are now on the verge of extinction.

According to the IPCC report, if the earth's temperature were warmed to 1.5 degrees Celsius, 14 percent of the earth's flora and fauna would be extinct. Studies have shown that 47 percent of the species have become extinct so far due to global warming and climate change. The most endangered are marine life and flora.

According to scientists, only 90 percent of tropical coral reefs will be destroyed by a temperature of 1.5 degrees Celsius. About 11,000 animals on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (ICUN) red list are directly affected by climate change. About 50 percent of the insects that play a key role in sustaining our ecosystem are on the verge of losing their habitat. Many vegetation on the ground is on the verge of extinction due to the fire. Not only that, climate change is making 8% of the world's agricultural land unusable by 2100.

In the face of such a crisis or tragedy, people are indifferently fighting for their ego. The question then becomes, are we responsible for this tragedy? No, not at all.

The main creator of this tragedy is Shakti Rashtra who is teaching us to 'wash our hands after defecation'. But what kind of environment to pass on to future generations? What kind of earth will the young grandparents, who are about to step on the earth from the safe womb of their mother, breathe? And, we also have the question of how to leave the positive / negative identity of our civilization in the minds of future generations.

We will have to germinate the seeds of consciousness to protect the environment from those who rob the common property of the world and give hot and polluted air to our part.

We know that the powers that be, who have deviated from their obligation to protect the earth from the angle of power and are teaching the sociology of civilization around the world, are still not worried about future generations. Not even responsible. We cannot add another brick of irresponsibility to their irresponsibility. In their irrationality we must broaden the scope of our conscience. Therefore, as a small country, we must move forward with a commitment to protect the environment.

This is important because recent data confirms that power nations are more involved in the manufacture and sale of weapons than in environmental issues. China (29.18 percent) is the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases. It is followed by the United States (14.2 percent), India (7.09 percent), Russia (4.65 percent) and Japan (3.47 percent).

The United States ranks between one and 45 of the world's 100 largest arms companies. The United States accounts for 35 percent of the world's arms sales. It is followed by Russia, France, Germany and China.

Similarly, the United States is the largest spender on weapons. China in the second.

They have done little to protect the world's common environment. In the last decade, developed countries have committed themselves to setting up a 'Climate Finance' fund, pledging to spend 100 billion dollars (for underdeveloped and underdeveloped countries) on the environment by 2020. But a UN report shows that they did not deposit that amount. While saying this, it cannot be said that they have not done anything so far.

No matter how much they contribute to environmental degradation, the steps they take to prevent or compensate are no different than if they were polio-infected. In fact, the environmental risks posed by the big powers are being borne by small, geographically small, sparsely populated and least developed and developing countries.

Therefore, countries at risk like Nepal, Bangladesh, Philippines, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, South Sudan, Kiribati should especially demand compensation. We cannot get compensation unless it is established that it is the right of a small country. Changing times give birth to many new concepts and take shape in their real form and change the world order, just as small countries must now raise their voices to make up for the damage they have not done.

From today, we should not raise our voice for the protection of the future descendants of the Sherpa Adivasi living in the mountainous region of our country and the Tharu Adivasi who are sweating in the hot sun of Madhes. Nepal's 70-year-old leftist movement and the recent Maoist people's war also raised the issue of bamboo-cotton. But now we also need to think about what kind of environment we will pass on to our future generations. We must create an environment where they can get clean air, clean water and non-radiation sun rays even if they are born in villages, towns, Madhes, hills and mountains.

In addition, the government will have to take some steps to bring positive results in the environment sector. The journey of a thousand miles from the first step, as mentioned, Nepal has already taken its positive step in the last decade. Nepal's role in preventing deforestation and conserving wildlife is unparalleled worldwide.

However, we are far behind in the areas of destruction of Chure, reduction of air pollution, waste and sewage management, protection of glaciers, prevention of fires, prevention of natural disasters, protection of drinking water sources, prevention of plowing in arable lands, etc. At the same time, we need to be aware that the Government of Nepal has not paid enough attention to building ground-level public intellectuals to formulate long-term strategies on climate and the region.

We need a common national environmental policy to address the environment and climate crisis. It should be a national policy in which no political party or elected government disagrees with its implementation. Naturally, a national debate is needed to formulate such a policy. The government should take the initiative for policy making by involving experts, stakeholders and a large section of the people in this field.

The country's foreign policy, national security policy and anti-corruption policy should be the same and the national environmental policy should be the same. The recent general convention of the CPN (Maoist Center) has tried to talk about the environment at least a little bit. The environmental thinking mentioned in the document, which came to be in the rain during the drought, will motivate the party to take national initiative in this regard.

In today's world, many crises, including political, ideological, economic, cultural, educational, poverty and conflict, have come to the fore to stop us. The first thing we need to do in order to get rid of it is to avoid it. If we don't have a common earth and environment, where will we go to avoid other crises?

So the first and last question today is who protects our environment.

Again, we need to think seriously about our environment, not just our environment, before any 'Nepali Greta Thunberg' bothers us.