SAJAforum

WILDLIFE: Two Tigers Airlifted to Rajasthan to revive population

India’s once thriving tiger population is rapidly declining, prompting great concern from preservation groups. In what the Associated Press called an “unprecedented attempt to revive the tiger population” in Western India, the Indian government airlifted two tigers to a national reserve this week.

According to the article:

The tigers were carried by Indian Air Force helicopters to Sariska Tiger Reserve in the western state of Rajasthan, whose entire tiger population has been wiped out by poachers during the last decade.

Poaching and a vanishing habitat have savaged Indian tigers, which were believed to number in the tens of thousands a century ago. The tiger population has dropped from nearly 3,600 five years ago to about 1,400, according to the latest tiger census in February. 

In its coverage of the tiger airlift, the Times of London details the troubled history of the Sariska Tiger Reserve.

Sariska used to be India's most famous tiger sanctuary and was at the centre of the Project Tiger conservation programme launched by Indira Gandhi, the late Prime Minister, in 1973. In a big embarrassment for Indian wildlife authorities, the Government was forced to admit in 2005 that all of the tigers in the park had been killed.

Since then, the Government has launched an emergency programme to rescue the tiger, vowing to create eight new reserves and a Tiger Protection Force to combat poachers.

More on the issue at The Hindu:

Poaching and a vanishing habitat have hit tiger numbers in India over the years. They were believed to number in the tens of thousands a century ago but the population has dropped from nearly 3,600 five years ago to about 1,400, according to an official tiger census done across the country in February 2008.

ENVIRONMENT: New site features interview with Dr. Pachauri, Nobel winner

I got an e-mail from veteran environment journalist Roger Cohn announcing his new venture:

Yale Environment 360

I wanted to let you know that Yale Environment 360 — a new online magazine devoted to covering the global environment — is up and running at e360.yale.edu. Please go to our site and take a look at some of our articles. You’ll find pieces by noted environmental advocate and writer, Bill McKibben; New Yorker staff writer Elizabeth Kolbert; climate scientist Richard C.J. Somerville; marine biologist and author Carl Safina; British journalist Fred Pearce; and many other writers, scientists, and thinkers. Our inaugural issue features opinion, analysis, reporting, and discussion on the major environmental issues of the day — from climate change, to growing water shortages, to the challenge of crafting an innovative energy policy in the United States. We showcase reporting from China, the Amazon, and Russia — just a sampling of our global reach — and a provocative interview with Nobel Prize-winner Rajendra K. Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

BURMA: Cyclone Death Toll Reaches Over 22,000

The state-run radio in Myanmar has confirmed that the death toll from cyclone Nargis has reached 22,464 with over 40,000 missing, the Associated Press reports.

The New York Times writes that if those numbers are accurate, the death toll would be the highest from a natural disaster in Asia since the tsunami of December 2004, which devastated coastlines in South Asia and claimed 181,000 lives.

“Stories get worse by the hour,” one Yangon resident, who did not want to be identified for fear of government retribution, said in an e-mail message. “No drinking water in many areas, still no power. Houses completely disappeared. Refugees scavenging for food in poorer areas. Roofing, building supplies, tools — all are scarce and prices skyrocketing on everything.”

Myanmar government officials have said that they would open the doors to international relief groups. But relief efforts have been hampered because of lack of the military government, according to the Times.

Also, most foreigners and all foreign journalists have been barred from entering the country. Several journalists are writing from Cambodia and Thailand as death tolls continue to increase.

Meanwhile, the military junta has agreed to delay voting for the much-awaited new constitution in the areas that are most affected by the cyclone. International governments had earlier criticized Burma for using newspaper and radio ads asking people to vote rather than informing them of the dangers of the cyclone.

You can watch a raw video here. (Make sure you allow pop-ups on your computer to watch the video). Also, for a comprehensive round up, video and graphics, check out the BBC's coverage here.

What are your thoughts on the cyclone in Burma? Please post your thoughts below.

CLIMATE: Saving the Environment through Satyagraha - Q&A

As with so many other problems of this modern world, the crisis of climate change begs the question: What would Gandhi do?

A coalition of environmentalists and other activists think Mahatma Gandhi's notion of satyagraha--nonviolent resistance (literally "truth force")--has powerful relevance to the struggle to save the planet. Last year, Al Gore cited Gandhi in a speech to the Sierra Club, calling for a morally courageous stance:

We ought to have a mass movement around a carbon freeze; it's scalable from the individual level to the company, community, state, and national level. Gandhi used the word Satyagraha or "truth force." In American politics, there have been soaring moments throughout our history when the truth has swept aside entrenched power. In the darkest hours of our Civil War, Abraham Lincoln said, "We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country." We need once again to disenthrall ourselves.

Gore also apparently drew upon Gandhi in using the phrase "An Inconvenient Truth." That's according to Pavan Sukhdev, an environmentalist from India who also serves as Managing Director in the Global Markets division of Deutsche Bank AG, based in London. He was recently commissioned by the G8+5 to spearhead their new report on environmental degradation and deforestation.

In this SAJAforum Q&A, Sukhdev answers questions surrounding his involvement as a member of the Garrison Institute ahead of its recent event, the Satyagraha Public Forum. The event, that took place on April 13th in New York City, gathered people like Gandhi biographer Rajmohan Gandhi and world famous composer Philip Glass to talk about climate change (Glass' opera "Satyagraha" is currently being performed at the Metropolitan Opera). They were joined by Dr. A. T. Ariyaratne, founder of Sri Lanka's Sarvodaya movement, and Billy Parish, founder of the Climate Campaign.

SAJAforum spoke to Sukhdev for his thoughts on India’s role in climate change, the importance of satyagraha and his relationship with Al Gore.

What can an event on climate change and satyagraha hope to accomplish?

Garrison's weekend program is a very novel initiative driven by a powerful idea. It picks up on the lineage of civil disobedience, from Henry David Thoreau to Mahatma Gandhi to Martin Luther King Jr. It also sees and dwells on the spiritual dimension of this challenge to human society.

How do the concepts of satyagraha and civil disobedience, once used to refer to direct oppressor-oppressed relationships, now relate to climate change? How does the re-appropriation of such terminology help to better address the struggle for climate change?

Struggle and truth: these are the heart of "Satyagraha." The challenge for our generation is to figure out how to apply this powerful idea and its methodology of peaceful struggle not to an oppressor without, but to an oppressor within. Who are the oppressed? Our children--they should inherit the Earth but might instead inherit a living hell. Who are the oppressors? It is us and our own triple-whammy of old-world habits: over-consumption, careless materials/energy use, and an addiction to fossil fuels. [Although] these are all habits [that] can each be changed by conscious choice it needs the determined power of truth, or satyagraha, for each of us to address them. Understanding truth comes first, then meditation and deep thought and, finally, solutions.

Can you tell me about your interactions with Al Gore and his involvement in this project. Why did Al Gore name his film "An Inconvenient Truth"?

I was invited by Vice President Al Gore to train with him for the India launch of his program, The Climate Partnership in New Delhi last month. I was also one of their two "local" speakers on the subject. Al Gore was deeply inspired by Gandhi's satyagraha movement and said that was also an inspiration for the name of his movie, “An Inconvenient Truth.”

AWARDS: Sierra Club announces $100,000 award for NGOs in India

From a press release by Sierra Club (thanks for the tip, Rob):

The Sierra Club, the oldest and largest grassroots environmental organization in the U.S., today announced a new $100,000 “Green Energy and Green Livelihoods Achievement Award” to recognize “outstanding environmental success in India” by civil society organizations – NGOs, cooperatives, small businesses and labor unions working at the grassroots level in India.

The announcement was made by Mr Carl Pope, Executive Director of the Sierra Club, at a news conference here today.  The winner of the first “Green Energy and Green Livelihoods Achievement Award” will be announced in early 2009 in Mumbai. The award will be worth Rs 40 lakhs at the current dollar:rupee value.

Full release here. Post your comments below.

ENVIRONMENT: Design for Social Change - a Wisconsin-India connection

Posters about pollution in Delhi, designed by students in Wisconsin. Click on each to magnify.

You may have heard of virtual volunteering but have you heard of virtual volunteering for an overseas client? An Indian professor of graphic design at the University of Wisconsin-Stout recently initiated a collaborative design project with a nonprofit in Delhi. The purpose of the project was to facilitate an exchange where students created work to draw attention to India’s environmental concerns. The project was coordinated by Ambica Prakash of Stout and Vimlendu Jha of Swechha. Jha is also part of a CNN initiative called Be the Change. According to the official university news:

Prakash and Jha decided that UW-Stout's students would design awareness posters targeting India's youth for the resources section of Swechha's website which focuses on the seven resources of water, renewable energy, trees, energy, water, wildlife and global warming.

"The project has challenged students", Prakash said. "Students are designing for an international audience and for an unfamiliar culture. They must think along the lines of cultural aesthetics to produce a design that isn’t offensive and hits home."

The student posters that can be seen here resonate with Prakash's teaching philosophy. From her interview with the university press:

INVESTMENT: Dow Jones launches Dharma Indexes

Daniel Burke of the Religion News Service reports on the launch of the Dow Jones Dharma Indexes, which track companies that "observe the values of dharma-based religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism":

The Dow Jones Dharma Indexes are the first to measure dharma-compliant stocks and now track more than 3,400 companies globally, including about 1,000 in the United States, according to the company. In addition to the global index, Dow Jones has created dharma indexes for the United States, Britain, Japan and India.

Dharma Investments, a private faith-based Indian firm, partnered with Dow Jones to create the indexes. "The principle of dharma contains precepts relevant to good conduct, but also the implicit requirement of mindfulness about the sources of wealth -- and therefore responsible investing," said Dharma Investments chief executive Nitesh Gor.

The first faith-based index was the Islamic Market Indexes, in 1999. The Dharma Indexes seem to dovetail with Western progressive interests in sustainability and social justice.

Advisory committees of religious leaders and scholars will screen and monitor companies' policies on the environment, corporate governance, labor relations and human rights, among other criteria. Companies from business sectors deemed un-dharmic, such as weapons manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, casinos and alcohol, are barred from the index.

Bhakti Charu Swami of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness said, "If one only considers the profit motive of an investment without recognizing how that profit was generated, one may unknowingly commit sinful activity. Every link in the entire chain of events is liable for the results."

Dow Jones said socially responsible investing makes up about 10 percent of America's $24 trillion investment marketplace.

 

 

FELLOWSHIPS: Interview with Arul Louis, Knight fellow on climate change in India

SAJAer and New York Daily News editor Arul Louis was recently awarded a Knight International Journalism Fellowship. His fellowship will take him to India, where he intends to develop tools and resources related to development and climate change for TERI, The Energy and Resources Institute headed by Nobel laureate Dr. Rajendra Pachauri (see Arul's project description).

Louis (photographed here by Thomas Monaster/Daily News) has been at the Daily News for 14 years. Prior to that, he worked at papers in New Jersey, as well as India Abroad. He considers his coverage of India's Emergency the "story of a lifetime." He recently returned from Bali, where he attended the UN climate change conference, even blogging on it as one of 10,000 people "crammed into the conference."

We asked him a few questions about this next stage in his career.

So, can you tell me a little more about this fellowship?

The Knight International Journalism Fellowships are funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The Fellows, who are experienced international media people, work with host organizations abroad on high-impact projects. Broadly, the goals are to help improve the standards of journalism and to innovate. In my case, the partner – or host organization – is TERI, The Energy Resources Institute.

The program has changed since it was started 22 years ago. Since 2006, the program has focused on specific issues or goals – like the environment, health, election coverage or ethics – and fellowships now are a year long. The program also emphasizes getting results that can be measured, and continuity, so that work done during the fellowship is sustained.

Incidentally, the program is launching a Fellowship on elections and political coverage in Pakistan and is looking for candidates.

Will you be working in some capacity with Dr. Rajinder Pachauri himself? Can you expand on the Project description, specifically the part that says "help journalists develop and utilize sophisticated tools, including online resources and media associations"?

I don't expect to be working directly on a day-to-day basis with Dr. Pachauri. TERI doesn't have a media program now and we have a plan to develop one. This will be an opportunity for us to come up with programs that are suitable for India and that utilize new technologies. For example, we can find new, interactive ways to present information. Here is an experiment (on Diwali/Deepavali's environmental impact) that can get timely information on the environment down to neighborhood levels (It's still at the alpha stage, so the stats are old; but it gives you a hint of what is possible.)

HOLIDAYS: Reducing Christmas waste, the Kerala way

Community columnist Nalini Krishnankutty has an editorial in the Centre Daily Times of Pennsylvania, in which she calls for the end of that cherished Christmas tradition: gift wrapping. She says the threat of climate change is reason enough to reduce all that waste - a better way, she suggests, is to give gifts in re-usable bags, or wrapped in yesterday's newspaper. She cites the example of Vishu, the Malayali New Year, where "no envelopes, cards or gift wraps were used." From "Helping Santa save the world, one gift at a time":

There was a time, someone told me recently, when people received an orange and an apple as gifts at Christmas — unwrapped — and were happy to get an orange and an apple. Does Santa remember that time?  What would he say if he heard of gift giving in my parents’ generation, in faraway India?

For our New Year (Vishu), in April, my family followed a tradition of Vishukaineetam, literally translated to “extending the hand at Vishu” for giving and receiving gifts.

The oldest person in the house gave gifts to all the younger people and anyone in their employment — gifts of money and fruits to family members and money, fruits, vegetables and rice to employees — all given unadorned and received with thanks.

As a child, I happily received my Vishukaineetam money directly in my hand while calculating my total “loot” for the day. No envelopes, cards or gift wraps were used, no indulging a need to surprise — saving so many trees and creating less pollution.

Read the rest of the article here.

Also check out Krishnankutty's blog post on celebrating Onam in central Pennsylvania.

ENVIRONMENT: India cashes in on carbon offsets

If you move around in the right crowds, as I do, you hear frequent talk of buying carbon offsets to mitigate naughty environmental habits, such as the use of a Lear jet or stretch Hummer. The more ambitious among us, like the Rolling Stones, aim for carbon neutrality - that zero point where one's carbon dioxide emissions are balanced out, or offset, by an equal use of renewable energy sources.

And now, apparently, many people and companies are stretching out their dollars and Euros by investing in clean carbon projects in India, which has grabbed a big chunk of the $5 billion carbon offsets market in the developing world.

From IANS:

According to statistics available with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), out of 844 projects registered under the CDM [clean development mechanism] scheme, as many as 289 are from India, accounting for 34.24 per cent of the total. China ranks next with 131 projects, or 15.52 per cent, followed by Brazil with 113, or 13.39 per cent, Mexico with 97, or 11.49 per cent and Chile with 21, or 2.49 per cent.

Indian companies like Reliance Industries, Tata Motors and Tamil Nadu Newsprint have emission reduction approvals (see a complete list of projects here). According to a World Bank expert quoted in the article, Charles Cornier, India is increasingly seen as a cost-effective way for Westerners to offset their carbon emissions.

CYCLONE: Helping Victims of Bangladesh Cyclone

The death toll continues to rise in the aftermath of last week's devastating Cyclone Sidr in Bangladesh (see SAJAforum's coverage). Below is a message we received from Moushumi Khan, a leading Bangladeshi American lawyer, who's getting a grad degree at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.

Dear Friends,

Please forgive the mass email. By now you may have heard of the
devastating cyclone that has hit Bangladesh causing over 3,000 people
to lose their lives, and suffering to countless more.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/11/19/bangladesh.cyclone/

If you would like, please consider donating something towards the
relief efforts.

Here are some options:
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies: http://donate.ifrc.org/?navid=02_02

Save the Children - US: https://secure.ga4.org/01/bangladesh_cyclone_1107

Naeem Mohaeimen, a SAJAer, filmmaker and activist, who is one of our go-to folks for all things Bangladesh, has also sent in a suggestion:

Drishtipat is a source for various updates on Cyclone Sidr, and how people can help: http://www.drishtipat.org/blog/

The folks at BRAC have sent along some info, too, on how you can help.. You will find it below.

Meanwhile, Naeem also has some stats that should shame Americans into doing more to help:

During Hurricane Katrina, Bangladesh (pop: 140 million) offered to send $1 million to help the people of New Orleans.

After Sidr, USA (population: 300 million) has offered to send $2 million to help the people of southern Bangladesh.

UK offered $5 million. Saudis have offered $100 million

See BBC's Bangladesh Makes Fresh Aid Plea:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7102982.stm

Post your suggestions, news links and comments below.

CYCLONE: Death Toll Increases in Bangladesh Cyclone

A guest post by Columbia Journalism School student Anup Kaphle. Post your comments below.
See how you can help here.

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Bangladesh is recovering from yet another natural catastrophe as Cyclone Sidr killed over thousands of people, brought down thousands of homes and forced over 650,000 people to evacuate from their houses in the southwest coast.

[As always with such stories, there's some inconsistencies in the death toll numbers. As of Sunday, Nov. 18, in New York, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation is reporting more than 10,000 deaths - quoting Bangladesh officials. The Associated Press, Bloomberg and others are citing 2,000 deaths.]

Some Bangladeshi bloggers from Chittagong and Dhaka are blogging about the cyclone reactions and experiences. Read the blogs here.

BBC reporter Alistair Lawson, who reported from Bhaupur, Bangladesh writes:

"Cyclones are not new to Bangladesh, but if the authorities are to be believed, they are now far less deadly."

CYCLONE: Bangladesh and India Hit by Cyclone

From AP/Yahoo:

Cyclone toll reaches 1,100 in Bangladesh
(UPDATE) DHAKA, Bangladesh - A cyclone that slammed into the coast
with 150 mph winds killed at least 1,100 people, isolating remote
towns and villages swamped by a storm surge or hemmed in by piles of
debris, aid workers and a Bangladeshi news agency said Friday.

Post your comments, updates, links, sources, below.

NOBEL: Pachauri's Role in Win + Gore vs. Pachauri

After last week's Nobel Peace Prize announcement - Al Gore and the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Sharing (IPCC) sharing the prize, we have been watching the coverage of the IPCC's chairman, Dr. Rajendra Pachauri.

Here's a roundup of interesting items:

• Gore vs. Pachauri...  After the announcments, Gore and Pachauri have been saying all the right things about each other, but it turns out things weren't always this cozy. On April 21, 2002, in an Earth Day-related op-ed in The New York Times entitle The Selling of an Energy Policy, Gore was unhappy with Pachauri's elevation at the IPCC.

Dr. Robert Watson, the highly respected leader of the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change, was blackballed in a memo to the White House from the nation's largest oil company. The memo had its effect last Friday, when Dr. Watson lost his bid for re-election after the administration threw its weight behind the ''let's drag our feet'' candidate, Dr. Rajendra Pachauri of New Delhi, who is known for his virulent anti-American statements.  

Pachauri responded with a letter to the editor, published on May 1, 2002:

To the Editor:
Re "The Selling of an Energy Policy," by Al Gore
(Op-Ed, April 21):

Mr. Gore's derogatory statements about me reflect deep disappointment at my election as chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, with 76 votes for me against 49 for his protege, Dr. Robert T. Watson. In a 1991 speech, Mr. Gore, referring to my "commitment," "vision" and "dedication," said: "Pachy is the one person in the world who could bring us all here. . . . He is known all over the community of concerned men and women as someone with the intellect and the heart."

In "Earth in the Balance," Mr. Gore acknowledged me "among the other scientists who have been helpful in giving me advice during the writing of this book."

Would the real Al Gore stand up? Does what he says today hold no value tomorrow?

R. K. PACHAURI
New Delhi, April 27, 2002

• Christian Science Monitor: "Alongside Al Gore, an Indian 'climate control' engineer
  Rajendra Pachauri heads the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Control, which was the co-winner of this year's Nobel Peace Prize" - by Mark Sappenfield.

NOBEL PRIZE: Indian Scientist Heads Group that Shares Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore

A few minutes ago, I got a CNN.com news alert: "The Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to former Vice President Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change." I went immediately to Nobel.se to see the exact wording of the official citation. Here's part of the press release:

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2007 is to be shared, in two equal parts, between the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Albert Arnold (Al) Gore Jr. for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change.

The South Asian connection here is that the chairman of the IPCC is an Indian scientist named Rajendra K. Pachauri. In yesterday's New York Times, reporter Mark Landler mentioned the possible winners for this year's prize:

Among those hotly rumored as candidates are three climate-change evangelists: former Vice President Al Gore; Sheila Watt-Cloutier, a Canadian Inuit who has warned of the threat to Arctic wildlife; and Rajendra K. Pachauri, an Indian scientist who leads the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which assesses the risks of greenhouse gases for the United Nations.

[Considering he nailed two of the eventual winners, I want Landler to be my tipster on other things, too.]

Dr. Pachauri is Director-General of The Energy Research Instititue, based in New Delhi. The IPCC chairmanship is an elected post; he was nominated by the Indian government.

More on Dr. Pachauri, who is 67, is in his TERI bio, reproduced below; Wikipedia; a US government climate science site; and his WhatAboutU profile. See a five-part interview with him, done by Rediff in June 2007. 

Note: Unlike the last two Peace Prizes, which also went to major organizations, in this case the head of the group is not named in the citation itself.

2006 citation: The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2006, divided into two equal parts, to Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank for their efforts to create economic and social development from below.

2005 citation: The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2005 is to be shared, in two equal parts, between the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and its Director General, Mohamed ElBaradei, for their efforts to prevent nuclear energy from being used for military purposes and to ensure that nuclear energy for peaceful purposes is used in the safest possible way.

A couple of possible reasons for Pachauri's name being left out. One is that the Yunus and ElBaradei have been running their organizations for much longer periods of time (Pachauri only became head of IPCC in 2002) and  were the most public faces of Grameen and IAEA respectively - in fact, the ONLY public faces. Their stature and sheer force of personality would certainly have been a factor in naming them individually. The other is that there wasn't another, unconnected entity splitting those awards. Once Al Gore was going to get half the award, it wouldn't make sense to name Pachauri in the IPCC citation - perhaps.

Nobels with a South Asia connection (this list was originally compiled by SAJA, with additional notations and links by SepiaMutiny):

• Muhammad Yunus & Grameen Bank (Peace, 2006)
• V.S. Naipaul (Literature, 2001)
• Amartya Sen (Economics, 1998)
• Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama (Peace, 1989)
• Subramanyan Chandrasekhar (Physics, 1983) [black holes]
• Mother Teresa (Peace, 1979)
• Abdus Salam (Physics, 1979) [electroweak theory; first from Pakistan]
• Har Gobind Khorana (Medicine, 1968) [synthetic RNA]
• Sir C.V. Raman (Physics, 1930) [spectroscopy, Raman effect]
• Rabindranath Tagore (Literature, 1913) [first Asian to win]
• Rudyard Kipling (Literature, 1907)
• Ronald Ross (Medicine, 1902) [malaria]
  
  It's worth noting that Mahatma Gandhi did not win the Nobel Peace Prize - here's an explanation of the circumstances of the biggest omission in Nobel history.
  
  [SAJA is looking for writers/editors who would like to help with the SAJA Stylebook - e-mail saja(at)columbia.edu].

POST YOUR COMMENTS BELOW.

EARLIER ON SAJAforum:

• Muhammad Yunus Wins Nobel Peace Prize
• Listen to SAJAforum Q&A With Yunus three weeks earlier

ENVIRONMENT: Bill Clinton on India's Environmental Problems

An alert from SAJA Board member John Laxmi, who runs the SAJA Discussion List (a group of 500+ journalists and non-journalists discussing stories about South Asia and the diaspora; sign up here).

Bill Clinton on global warming’s true global effect

In Sunday's "Meet The Press" show with Tim Russert, former president Bill Clinton (who was being interviewed on the occasion of the Clinton Global Initiative gathering last week) cited the case of a child's death in New Delhi in connection with his position that India and China should be gradually brought into the global environmental reforms.

Clinton said health and environmental conditions in India are very bad and described the case of a 4-year-old who fell into a river south of New Delhi and although the child was rescued within a short time from drowning, the child had consumed so much toxic pollutants that the child died after the accident (anyone recall the particulars of this case?). Incidentally, he said "WE had a kid fall into the river..." instead "they had a kid..." or "a kid fell..."

You can see the full video above and read the transcript below. Post your comments below.

On a sort of related note, I found the following post on the blog of the chief economist for South Asia at the World Bank, Shanta Devarajan (whose blog has an optimistic title and tagline: "End Poverty in South Asia - It can be be done in one generation"). From India is a low-intensity producer of carbon dioxide:

As world leaders meet this week in New York and Washington to discuss climate change and ways to mitigate its effects, the discussion frequently turns to the large, fast-growing economies such as China and India who are, and are likely to be, among the largest emitters of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases.  But despite being the world's second most populous country and fourth largest economy, India's CO2 emissions is still only one-fifth that of the U.S. or China.  Furthermore, India is one of the lowest-intensity producers of CO2 among the large countries. India's per-capita emissions of CO2 is about one metric ton per person, compared with 4 as the world average, 9 for the United Kingdom and 20 for the U.S..  In a group of 70 of the world's largest emitters, India ranks in the bottom 10. In terms of carbon emissions per unit of GDP (measured at Purchasing Power Parity, or PPP), too, India is virtually the lowest among comparator countries (see chart).  Finally, unlike in other countries, India's carbon intensity did not rise as economic growth accelerated in the last decade.

Read the full post here.

CLIMATE CHANGE: India confronts, and deflects, its environmental obligations (Guest Post)

This is a guest post by SAJAforum regular Arthur Dudney, who's extensively documented the media and scientific reports on climate change and India. And although he sees inertia on the part of the Indian media and politicians, he says action would carry tremendous costs as well.

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Media coverage in India, as in the West, often reports natural disasters and other weather trends as possibly caused by global warming. If the doomsday predictions are at all accurate, then South Asians have more to lose to global warming than almost anyone else. However, some people in the developing world see emissions control as a new form of imperialism, a plot to keep the advantages of industrialization and consumerism in the hands of the West.

Despite increasing recognition of global warming in India (as recent survey results indicate), there is a sense that climate change is not India’s problem. The pattern is plain in The Times of India’s editorials: This one makes an impassioned case for stopping global warming but does not even mention India. Because the West is largely responsible for the problem—we’ve had about a century’s head start— another TOI editorial argues that what is needed is a vast program along the lines of the Marshall Plan for the West to fund emissions controls in the developing world. A minority view holds that global warming has not affected India at all.

Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister of India, recently summarized the contradiction of Indian modernity: “While we have a long way to go in meeting the aspirations of our people and while we must rid our country of the scourge of poverty, ignorance and disease, we should do so in a manner that is environmentally sustainable." The West went through an industrial revolution, whose effect was tremendous and in some ways disastrous, and there is no model of countries entering modernity without a similar record of carbon dioxide spewing.

Neither China nor India (currently the number one and number four CO2 emitters in the world by total volume) are bound by the emissions controls laid out in the Kyoto Protocol because they both fall under the developing nations exemption. Recently when an Indian official was asked whether members of parliament had negotiated a treaty to limit India’s carbon emissions, he “emphatically denied” that such a document had been signed. Certainly government officials tread very carefully when it comes to choosing between unfettered development and hastening the coming of the apocalypse.