SATURDAY, APRIL 27, 2024
This year has been unforgettable for many reasons, none of which need to be elucidated here. However this year was marked by something that has not happened before. This was the first year during which every month was marked by rainfall. Is this a sign that climate change is taking place or is this a one off. For environmentalists in the state this was a sign that did not point to a promising future.
Rajendra Kerkar noted environmentalists said climate change was already happening and it was affecting life. He said this was very obvious with Goa experiencing rain for twelve months. Rajendra said this was happening because of the climatic changes that were taking place. In addition the low pressure along the coast of the Arabian sea as well as the Bay of Bengal This he said was resulting in the rain. He said “The carbon emission is increasing at an alarming rate as far as Goa is concerned. Goa has the highest ratio of the vehicles in terms of population in the country. The carbon emission is increasing and the petrol and diesel emission is all causing the rain. I strongly believe this is now cast in stone. We will have to be ready when we leave the house. I always carry an umbrella in my vehicle. This is now our reality. Winter has also changed in intensity. It is really cold during the winter.”
A member of the new breed of environmentalists is Neola Pereira. She was involved in the Mollem campaign. She had no hesitation in saying that this was without a doubt a manifestation of climate change. She said the cutting of trees at Mollem had just made the situation worse. Neola said "We have never experienced anything like this before, if this kind of behavior persists, the problem will get worse. We were lucky we harvested our fields in Chicalim on November 14 but I know several farmers around the state had problems with these unseasonal rains”. When asked what she would like to see happen as a young citizen of India and a resident in Goa, she hoped the people would get educated how important the environment is and one did not require being an environmentalist to think about the environment. She said people had to understand it was the prime responsibility of everyone to be concerned about it. She said was doing it with people she was coming in contact with in addition to several other initiatives to ensure this problem could be sorted out.
Claude Alvares noted environmentalist however felt it was a little too early to say that climate change was taking place. He said if it happened consecutively for three, four or five years then one could conclude that there was climate change. It would then mean one would have to adjust to different monsoon periods and that would have a tremendous impact on the food that was presently being grown. He said “Certain vegetables are grown only during the monsoons and some after and I do farming. I have seen how the excess rain has damaged everything. They can’t take that much water. Only plants like pumpkins and doodhi can handle it. Cashew trees don’t need so much water. It gets very difficult. For seventy years of my life I have seen regular monsoon, every year starting from the first week of June and ending by September, then regular winter and then summer. We used to never think that the monsoon would start so early, we had rain in January off and on, then the cyclone and it has continued till December. It looks like it has come to an end. It is not a good situation”. He said there were cycles and when they were disrupted, there would be problems. This he said manifested itself in the price of tomatoes and other essential vegetables. The ordinary people were suffering because of this. Claude however said there was nothing that could be done because it was already established and nothing could be done. Perhaps one would have to learn to prepare for a different way of life. Earlier he said the heavy rains would come in July but now they were coming in August or some other month resulting in farmers suffering the most. The entire paddy he said got soaked and even now if one came to Parra, the fields were still soaked and it was not possible to get grass for the animals. He said he needed some grass for his chickens which was not available. He hoped it was a complete change which would be terrible but he felt humans would adapt. Even now he bemoaned that none of the political class want to change so then what was the point of discussing it. He hoped some group would come up and raise this. He hoped this change could be initiated in the next five years because after that it would be too late.
However like everything in life, there will be people who may hold a view that goes against the commonly held view. Rahul M a scientist at the Goa Meteorological Department said it was true there was some amount of rainfall that was received by the state every month and it was important to note that there were 13 rain gauge stations around the state and they were getting reports every day. He said any light rainfall would be reported immediately. Rahul said 30, 60 or even 100 years ago the number of rain gauges was much less and it was possible that rain may have fallen in some place or the other but it was not reported. With regards to climate change he said it was important to know that the country had three seasons i.e. pre monsoon, monsoon and post monsoon season. In these three seasons rainfall was received. This was from March to December. It was not unusual to receive rains in post monsoon in Goa but in pre monsoon, these thunder showers were due to the high temperature. In January and February, rains would fall in either of these months every three or four years. This year however it fell in both the months which were unusual. He said Goa used to receive some rainfall during eleven months but this year it fell in twelve months. In 2020, he said rain was recorded in December. None of this he said was new but the fact it had happened in Panjim meant it got a lot of attention. Now he said they had a denser system for collection of information. Coming to climate change he said it would not be possible to say that it started in 2018 or 2019 or 2020. Giving the example of the amount of rainfall in December, he said in the past 100 years it rained 35 times in December and 13 were from 1990 to 2021. The pattern of change could not be attributed to a single year. In December Panaji received 103 mm of rain in 24 hrs which is highest ever in December. Prior to this it was in 1965 which was 100 mm. he said rainfall of similar category does take place and looking at the numbers one could say some change had certainly taken place in December rainfall and one could not call it significant. It would require more research before making such a sweeping statement.
Well that is another point of view but it could be said the unplanned move forward to progress was causing damage to the planet and it would be good if a case was taken to ensure more damage was not perpetrated.
