Warming up to climate debate
By Nilima Pathak, Correspondent
Published: October 27, 2007, 01:07
New Delhi: For the past several years Rajendra Kumar Pachauri has been spending more time flying above 10,000 metres than with his family in his New Delhi residence.
His hard work has helped place climate change centre stage in world politics.
Its proof has been this year's Nobel recognition of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that he chairs along with former US vice-president Al Gore.
As chairman of IPCC, Pachauri's day starts by 3:30am. And there is every chance of catching him before daybreak at the India Habitat Centre office of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) which he leads as director-general.
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An engineer, scientist and economist, Pachauri has overseen the creation of a series of reports over the past few years exploring human role in causing climate change. They have helped move the issue up the global political agenda.
The visibly happy 67-year-old former railway engineer and energy specialist attributes the Nobel Peace Prize award to the scientific community of the IPCC. "I am merely a symbol," Pachauri said.
"Climate concerns are reaching a crescendo and the world is hurtling towards discord and dispute," he says.
Tragic part
"The tragic part is that India is being projected as one of the major contributors of pollution. And little is said about how Europe's emissions have risen in the past year or how other countries are treating the environment.
"Globally, our contribution has been very small thus far in terms of emissions of greenhouse gases, whereas the developed countries have had huge share. But this is not the time for the blame game. It is time to act before it becomes too late for any of us for damage control. The world must act decisively keeping in mind that all countries will be victims of climate change," he warns.
Pachauri remarks: "The earth's resources are taken for granted, which is a big mistake. We need to save the environment by using energy more efficiently. And we do not need rocket science to make this happen, as technologies are all around."
Biofuel, carbon storage and nuclear power are options to save the world. In addition, there needs to be a major change in global the consumption pattern, he says. What economists and scientists are informing us is something that we have read in our school textbooks. Even a slight lifestyle change of a whole population can make a difference.
Instrumental
Pachauri has been instrumental in steering the UN climate panel to dizzying heights. The panel's reports summarise two decades' scientific studies explaining the connection between human activities and global warming. The report, published this year, provided a stark view of global warming and cautioned that climate change was already on the march and rising temperatures fuelled the risk of drought, flooding and violent storms.
IPCC, comprising 3,000 scientists drawn from a range of disciplines, is the world's top scientific authority on global warming and its impact on the planet.
Pachauri, who spent his childhood in the misty mountains of Nainital in Uttarakhand, says: "Nature has left a deep impact on my psyche and it pains and bothers me to see it being ruined and the hills turning into sprawling slums."
Thinking
"On its front, TERI goes about working with the industries and the corporate sector trying to bring about a change in their thinking. Thus, more and more people are getting conscious about these issues than before and there is definitely a distinct change.
Pachauri, with his wide-ranging expertise feels that India can get over the "fatal attraction" with fossil fuels. Among his solutions are promotion of public transport, energy-efficient buildings and renewable energy. He said the country needs to pay more attention to its forests, rivers, lakes and fresh water resources.
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