Press release - March 25, 2008
KOLKATA, India — Greenpeace alerted the Indian government and people of the subcontinent to the massive humanitarian crisis the South Asian region could face if global warming was not kept below the 2 degree tipping point. “Blue Alert – Climate Migrants in South Asia: Estimates and Solutions, a paper authored by Dr Sudhir Chella Rajan , professor of Humanities and Social Sciences at IIT Madras, and a climate expert, estimates the number of people who could be displaced from their homes at 125 million in India and Bangladesh alone.
Blue Alert warns that if greenhouse gas emissions continue to
grow under the business-as-usual scenario as projected, leading to
global temperature rise by 4-5°C , the South Asian region could
face a wave of migrants displaced by the impacts of climate change,
including sea level rise and drought associated with shrinking
water supplies and monsoon variability. Dr. Chella Rajan, the
author of the report, recommended that "India should seek policy
options that are proactive in terms of developing international
strategies to reduce the risk of destructive climate change. We
cannot wait for the inevitable to happen and hope to adapt to
it."
Bringing in the Bangladeshi perspective, Mr. Mohon Kumar Mondol,
the Executive Director of LEDARS, Bangladesh[1], stated quite
simply that the world had to act to arrest the climate crisis, or
take on the onus of rehabilitating millions of Bangladeshi
refugees. "India would certainly be the first country to experience
an inflow of refugees." Making an emotional appeal he said, "This
is a reality in my lifetime. I don't want to see the day I lose my
home to the sea and saline deserts where people have live without
clean water. It can be prevented and we are the last generation
that can stop it, governments across the world have no choice but
to stop this nightmare from becoming reality."
Greenpeace, is simultaneously launching a 'Blue Alert' campaign
in 5 of the most vulnerable coastal cities in India namely Kolkata,
Mumbai, Chennai, Kochi and Goa. The campaign would bring home to
citizens the reality of what is in store for these cities if the
government fails to start acting now. Addressing the press
conference, Vinuta Gopal, Climate and Energy campaigner, from
Greenpeace said, "Prevention is better than cure - that's common
sense. If we don't nip the cancer that is global warming at the
early stage of detection, which is now, we are signing off the
future of the world to a terminal stage that has no cure. We have
the tools to fight this problem, what we need is the political will
to do so."
The Blue Alert campaign aims to catalyse citizens in the coastal
danger zones, and empower them with information so that impacted
communities are able to bring up their concerns with their elected
representatives. "The Indian government has wrongly forsaken
mitigation for adaptation and the forthcoming session of Parliament
must debate this wisdom which has serious long term consequences
said Divya Raghunandan, Campaign Director, Greenpeace India. She
urged the Indian government to seize the initiative to develop a
low carbon economy. "We have an opportunity to be world leaders at
developing clean technologies. We have the human capital to do this
and our government must create the necessary environment for it.
There is an added opportunity in laying claim to access mitigation
related clean technologies from the developed world. This is where
the focus should be when the government announces its National
Climate Action Plan in June", she said.
For further information, contact
Vinuta Gopal: 
Notes to Editor
Dr Chella Rajan is also the coauthor of How We Can Save the Planet: Preventing Global Climate Catastrophe
LEDARS: Local Environment Development and Agricultural Research Society (LEDARS), is a non-profit and non-political organization that has been working for social, economical and environmental development of the poor and marginal people of the southwest coastal region of Bangladesh since 1996. www.ledars.org