Alarm bells ring for climate change

So, the menace of climate change is now knocking at the doors of Assam. According to state Science and Technology Minister Keshab Mahanta, of 25 districts in the country which have been identified as "most vulnerable to climate change", as many as 15 are in Assam. These are Karimganj, Cachar, Hailakandi, Baksa, Barpeta, Darrang, Dhubri, Dibrugarh, Goalpara, Golaghat, Kokrajhar, Morigaon, Sivasagar, Sonitpur and Tinsukia. Citing a report of the Council of Energy, Environment and Water released in 2021, Mahanta has also revealed that of these 15 districts, Karimganj has been identified as the "most vulnerable district" in the entire country. That climate change is already here has been already felt in the state in the past few months. The unprecedented floods in Dima Hasao and the three Barak Valley districts, extreme variations in rainfall in the Brahmaputra Valley, lack of water in the paddy fields in certain districts, fluctuation in tea production, rising mercury levels – all these are nothing but early warning signs of climate change and what Assam has in the near future. Going by Minister Mahanta's statement, there has been an exponential increase in the frequency of flood events in Assam since 2010. Last year for instance, more than 1.4 million people were displaced by floods along the Brahmaputra in 18 of the state's 33 districts. Now that the alarm bells have already started ringing, it will be worthwhile to find out what the government has in mind to tackle the fast-approaching disastrous situation. The State Plan of Action on Climate Change (2015-20) of the Government of Assam refers to observation which shows that changes being experienced in the climate of Assam are over and above the natural climate variability prevailing in the region. It has also referred to studies which have shown that Assam falls within areas of greatest climate sensitivity, maximum vulnerability and lowest adaptive capacity. The State Plan of Action says that already, water resources in the state are beginning to become scarce and there has been a highly uneven distribution both temporally and spatially. A threat such as climate change thus calls for timely and coherent policy response and action that will help reduce vulnerability and build resilience of the state to likely climate impacts. If this be so, then it is imperative that the Government of Assam urgently spells out the exact plan of action that it has, and make the people of the state active partners of its action plan. After all, it is the common man who will be hit hard by climate change, and policies and action plans confined to government files cannot be of any use if the people are not involved.