What Benjamin Franklin said long ago “If you would be famous after you are dead either write things worth reading or do things worth writing about” – is true both ways of one of India’s renowned scientists who happened to be a passenger on the ill-fated Air India plane which crashed on the icy Alps on January 24, 1966 – Dr. Homi Jehangir Bhabha. The simplest and perhaps the most appropriate homage that can be paid to him is to recollect his ideals and philosophy for the promotion of science and technology for the good of the common man.
Honours Galore
After early education in India, Bhabha worked at Cambridge for some years. His original contribution on cosmic rays and related fundamental studies in physics won him wide recognition. He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society and doctoral degrees (honoris causa) were conferred on him by several universities of the West. By returning to his homeland he sacrificed a scientific career at Cambridge; as a true patriot, he worked with phenomenal patience and zeal under not too comfortable an environment but with a strong belief expressed in his own words: “that if proper appreciation and financial support are forthcoming it is the duty of people like us to study in our country and build on it outstanding schools of research such as some other countries are fortunate to possess.” To many of the younger generation, who are prone to criticise the Indian scene, his answer was: “For thousands of scientists who can do good work in a good environment there is perhaps only one who like Rutherford can create his own environment wherever he may be.”
A Queer Blend of Many virtues
Bhabha was a queer blend of many virtues difficult to enumerate. His love of Nature and his exquisite artistic tastes were imprinted on everyone of the institutions he founded. His character baffles analysis. Perhaps where analysis fails there genius begins, as Dr. John Holland Rose of Cambridge said of Napoleon.
The development of the atomic energy programme in India has all along been the exploitation of the atom for peaceful purposes only and in this he endeavoured with a strong faith that the essential difference between developed and underdeveloped countries is the lack of modern science and an economy based on modern technology without establishing science as a live force. A true symbol of this faith is the Tarapur nuclear energy station generating cheap electric power. Similar ones at Kalpakkam (Tamil Nadu) and Rana Pratapsagar (Raiasthan) will considerably add to our power resources.
Building from within
Bhabha struck a new path in bringing up new institutions, though at the outset, it appeared unconventional and even hazardous. First, research scientists were found and the subjects were allowed to grow consistent with the expansion of the scientific base. He had always advocated and followed the policy of “building from within” and the emphasis had been on developing knowhow indigenously.
In a brilliant talk, hardly a few days before his death on “Science and Problems of Development” at the International Council of Scientific Unions attended by scientists from 35 countries, Bhabha said: “There are many factors which hamper progress in science but in general, the absence of the proper administrative set-up for science is greater than the paucity of scientists and technologists. A majority of scientists are made less effective through lack of the right type of administrative support.”
The administration of scientific research and development is an even more subtle matter than the administration of industrial enterprises and Bhabha was convinced that it could not be done on the basis of borrowed knowledge. It must necessarily be done as in the technologically advanced countries by scientists and technologists themselves.
Atom for Peace
Indeed, no one was more aware of the limitation of our fuel resources, fossil as well as nuclear, than Bhabha. As he said in his Presidential address to the Geneva Conference on “The Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy” in 1965: “For the full industrialisation of the underdeveloped areas, for the continuation of civilisation and its further development, atomic energy is not merely an aid; it is an absolute necessity.”
His philosophy of life expressed in his words should be an example to all scientists of the day: “The scientist must be free to think and put forward whatever ideas he considers right. Ideas are some of the most important things in life and men are prepared to suffer and die for them. Good ideas cannot be suppressed even by violence. Nothing is irreversible except death,”
The formula for the success of a scientist is PAML (Patience, ability, money and luck) and Bhabha had all of them one by one in the course of his career, but alas, when he had all in plenty and interacting favourably the country was unlucky to lose him in tragic circumstances.
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- Lowering Emissions by Accelerating Forest Finance (LEAF) Coalition, a collective of the United States, United Kingdom and Norway governments, came up with a $1 billion fund.
- LEAF is supported by transnational corporations (TNCs) like Unilever plc, Amazon.com, Inc, Nestle, Airbnb, Inc as well as Emergent, a US-based non-profit.
- The world lost more than 10 million hectares of primary tropical forest cover last year, an area roughly the size of Switzerland.
- Ending tropical and subtropical forest loss by 2030 is a crucial part of meeting global climate, biodiversity and sustainable development goals. Protecting tropical forests offers one of the biggest opportunities for climate action in the coming decade.
- Tropical forests are massive carbon sinks and by investing in their protection, public and private players are likely to stock up on their carbon credits.
- The LEAF coalition initiative is a step towards concretising the aims and objectives of the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) mechanism.
- REDD+ was created by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It monetised the value of carbon locked up in the tropical forests of most developing countries, thereby propelling these countries to help mitigate climate change.
- It is a unique initiative as it seeks to help developing countries in battling the double-edged sword of development versus ecological commitment.
- The initiative comes at a crucial time. The tropics have lost close to 12.2 million hectares (mha) of tree cover last year according to global estimates released by Global Forest Watch.
- Of this, a loss of 4.2 mha occurred within humid tropical primary forests alone. It should come as no surprise that most of these lost forests were located in the developing countries of Latin America, Africa and South Asia.
- Brazil has fared dismally on the parameter of ‘annual primary forest loss’ among all countries. It has lost 1.7 mha of primary forests that are rich storehouse of carbon. India’s estimated loss in 2020 stands at 20.8 kilo hectares.
- Between 2002-2020, Brazil’s total area of humid primary forest reduced by 7.7 per cent while India’s reduced by 3.4 per cent.
- Although the loss in India is not as drastic as in Brazil, its position is nevertheless precarious. For India, this loss is equivalent to 951 metric tonnes worth carbon dioxide emissions released in the atmosphere.
- It is important to draw comparisons between Brazil and India as both countries have adopted a rather lackadaisical attitude towards deforestation-induced climate change. The Brazilian government hardly did anything to control the massive fires that gutted the Amazon rainforest in 2019.
- It is mostly around May that forest fires peak in India. However, this year India, witnessed massive forest fires in early March in states like Odisha, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Mizoram among others.
- The European Union’s Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service claimed that 0.2 metric tonnes of carbon was emitted in the Uttarakhand forest fires.
- Implementation of the LEAF Coalition plan will help pump in fresh rigour among developing countries like India, that are reluctant to recognise the contributions of their forest dwelling populations in mitigating climate change.
- With the deadline for proposal submission fast approaching, India needs to act swiftly on a revised strategy.
- Although India has pledged to carry out its REDD+ commitments, it is impossible to do so without seeking knowledge from its forest dwelling population.
Context:-
At the recently concluded Leaders’ Summit on Climate in April 2021, Lowering Emissions by Accelerating Forest Finance (LEAF) Coalition, a collective of the United States, United Kingdom and Norway governments, came up with a $1 billion fund plan that shall be offered to countries committed to arrest the decline of their tropical forests by 2030.
[wptelegram-join-channel link=”https://t.me/s/upsctree” text=”Join @upsctree on Telegram”]What is LEAF Coalition?
Why LEAF Coalition?
Brazil & India
According to the UN-REDD programme, after the energy sector, deforestation accounts for massive carbon emissions — close to 11 per cent — in the atmosphere. Rapid urbanisation and commercialisation of forest produce are the main causes behind rampant deforestation across tropical forests.
Tribes, Forests and Government
Disregarding climate change as a valid excuse for the fires, Indian government officials were quick to lay the blame for deforestation on activities of forest dwellers and even labelled them “mischievous elements” and “unwanted elements”.
Policy makers around the world have emphasised the role of indigenous tribes and local communities in checking deforestation. These communities depend on forests for their survival as well as livelihood. Hence, they understand the need to protect forests. However, by posing legitimate environmental concerns as obstacles to real development, governments of developing countries swiftly avoid protection of forests and rights of forest dwellers.
For instance, the Government of India has not been forthcoming in recognising the socio-economic, civil, political or even cultural rights of forest dwellers. According to data from the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs in December, 2020 over 55 per cent of this population has still not been granted either individual or community ownership of their lands.
To make matters worse, the government has undertaken systematic and sustained measures to render the landmark Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 ineffective in its implementation. The Act had sought to legitimise claims of forest dwellers on occupied forest land.
Various government decisions have seriously undermined the position of indigenous people within India. These include proposing amendments to the obsolete Indian Forest Act, 1927 that give forest officials the power to take away forest dwellers’ rights and to even use firearms with impunity.
There is also the Supreme Court’s order of February, 2019 directing state governments to evict illegal encroachers of forest land or millions of forest dwellers inhabiting forests since generations as a measure to conserve wildlife. Finally, there is the lack of data on novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) deaths among the forest dwelling population;
Tardy administration, insufficient supervision, apathetic attitude and a lack of political intent defeat the cause of forest dwelling populations in India, thereby directly affecting efforts at arresting deforestation.
Way Forward
Tuntiak Katan, a global indigenous leader from Ecuador and general coordinator of the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities, aptly indicated the next steps at the Climate Summit:
“The first step is recognition of land rights. The second step is the recognition of the contributions of local communities and indigenous communities, meaning the contributions of indigenous peoples.We also need recognition of traditional knowledge practices in order to fight climate change”
Perhaps India can begin by taking the first step.