Climate change an existential challenge for our planet: V-P Jagdeep Dhankhar

Our planet faces climate change as an existential challenge and solutions to the situation are complex, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar said Sunday during the valedictory session of the two-day National Conference on Environment organised by the NGT.

Dhankhar also said that NGT, as an institution, is playing a crucial role in catalysing containment and was looking for solutions.

“Our planet faces, in the shape of climate change, not an ordinary challenge but an existential one. The situation is critical and cliff hanging, and has been engaging the attention of people from all over the world for far too long. The solution to this issue is complex and people believe someone will fix it. We will have to do it on our own,” he said.

“We need to realise we are trustees of everything offered by Earth. We must pass all this to future generations in good shape… have we done it? Certainly not,” he said.

Describing the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy as a “mega environmental negligence”, he said lessons from it are still unlearnt. Dhankhar said that even after four decades, families still suffer from genetic disorders.

Dhankhar also referred to NGT chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava’s work as commissioner for the welfare of the victims of Bhopal gas leak disaster.

“Thirty years later, Justice Shrivastava dealt with that issue for the welfare of the victims. The lack of awareness was pathetic… we did not have an institution like NGT, we did not have a regulatory regime that could address the issue,” he said.

Supreme Court judge Justice P S Narasimha said the top court was among the first ones in international jurisprudence to shift from an anthropocentric approach to eco-centric approach. “That shift has happened because that is how we lived. Ecology is a living being and we are only a part of it. And therefore the attitude of being superior over the environment never existed.”

Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta said the government was taking proactive steps to curb air and water pollution. He said, “This (water pollution) crisis has affected even the Ganga with industrial waste and sewage. Another issue is the worsening impact of climate change in the country with instability in monsoon and extreme weather conditions.”