GEOPOLITICS AND CLIMATE CONCERNS

Gustavo De Aristegui

As the UN Conference COP22 comes to an end in Marrakesh, there are many that still doubt the importance of climate change and its impact on geopolitics, the economy, security, the wellbeing of billions of people and the future of the Planet. The calculations made by some experts are indeed frightening and the effects on food supplies, harvests, weather and almost everything that we care for, are undeniable. Unfortunately some climate change supporters have used flawed data from unsubstantiated research and that has hurt the overall cause of fighting against this terrible Damocles Sword, hanging over our heads. The fanatical amateurish paladins of climate change and their arch nemesis the deniers of climate change are equally irresponsible, this too serious to make it a bone of political contention. But let’s focus on the real consequences for the world economy and more specifically for the economies of emerging world powers. Much has been said about the need of a moratorium for those countries that are not yet fully developed, and that the biggest polluters have reached their incredible level of wealth on the back of every other inhabitant of the Planet. That may be true, but that is crying over spilled milk, this is not the way to stop this tragedy from dooming our children’s future. In fact the essence of the premise is wrong, the more developed the country, the more means it has to try to fight some of the consequences, obviously not all of them, of climate change. The phenomena has burdened the lives of the poorest farmers, that have less and less access to clean water, their farms becoming waste land, and the desserts advancing at speeds unheard of for centuries. Cattle has less pastures to graze on and their owners have to move looking for new lands, this is happening every day in many countries in Africa, sometimes fuelling conflict between farmers and cattle herders, that because they are from different religions, the conflict is too often mistaken for an ethnic or religious confrontation, just another example of how frivolously some serious news is reported in some media. India has a phenomenal role to play in this field, not only because it is home to almost 17% of the world’s population, but because by becoming a champion of green energies, clean water, river rejuvenation, sustainable development and clean industries, it will be doing not only Humanity a service, but itself. India is one of the hardest stricken countries by some of the consequences of climate change, and what really needs to be noted is that India’s Governments have been actively committed to this cause. But what really is important is that Prime Minister Modi’s Government is the most active and engaged Centre of Right Government, that promotes green energy, clean industry and sustainable development. This is an example of true world leadership. India`s clean energy mission is the largest single initiative of its kind in the World, and some of India`s leading industrial groups have become in just a few years the champions of solar or wind power. India has a unique opportunity to become a leader in this field, now for many analysts it is growingly obvious that not having gone through some of the phases of development is actually a great advantage. Look at African farmers for example, the fact that they went from cash economies to cell phone payment, has boosted their productivity because very large number of them embraced the method because they did not have credit or debit cards and therefore old habits to kick. The same applies to clean energy; it is obvious that with today’s technology fossil fuel based energies will not be replaced overnight. India’s energy consumption has been growing exponentially, there are still enormous shortages to correct, but the clean energy strategy of the country will greatly contribute to making of India not only a herald of sustainable development, but a world leader in this field. This is not just about developing solar and wind farms in India, this is about creating a top notch, cutting edge clean energy industry, based on solid research and development. There on its about exporting it and developing farms around the world, a strategy that will boost India’s economy, create very high quality jobs, and help curb the disastrous effects of climate change. India will have made a quantum leap in its development and we will all be extremely thankful for it. Source: http://gustavodearistegui.es/