The slogan for this year's Environmental Day is `Give Earth A Chance'.

Rhetorically,
there still seems to be concern for the health of Planet Earth in Kerala, but practically
it has been given the go by. If the present conditions persist, it may not be long
before Kerala develops deserts, feels LEELA MENON

AS YET another World Environment Day dawns what the environmental gurus

witness is a clichéd refocus on environmental flaws, which have remained not only

uncorrected, but worsened. The degradation of air and water, deforestation leading

to desertification and laterisation, looming water shortage, vanishing forest cover,

flora and fauna, including migratory birds, shrinking backwaters, polluted seas and

reduction in fish wealth mark the environmental scene today.

The slogan on Environmental Day this year is `Give Earth A Chance'. It is a

heartrending cry for help that resonates in a million hearts across the globe but fails

to find an echo in materialistic, ego-centric money- at any-cost, anti-environmental

lobby, sowing destruction and robbing the next generation of their future.`` Kerala

cannot even have another chance, it is beyond redemption'', grieves Dr.U K Gopalan,

(UKG) the recent winner of Bhoomi Mitra Award and a committed scientist-turned-

environmentalist.

The Earth Summit at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1992 was a fallout of the realisation in

1972 that ecological and environmental degradation threatens the very existence of

human beings and all life forms on earth. The World Conservation Strategy, the

World Wide Fund for Nature, the World Commission on Environment and

Development, which brought out the report on Our Common Future, stressing

sustainable development in harmony with man and nature have all been reduced to

so much verbiage, at least in Kerala. The land of rivers and eternal monsoons is
currently drinking water out of tankers, the cool mist-laden breeze which once blew

from the thick evergreen forests has turned hot. Winter in Kerala is a memory.

The Rio Declaration, endorsed by 100 countries, spelt out guidelines for sustainable

development with a global consensus on management, conservation and

development of all types of forests, biodiversity, and re-negotiation to combat

desertification. Since then there was Kyoto protocol, biosafety protocol et al. The

Framework of Climate Convention directly attributed climate change to human

activity that alters the composition of global atmosphere and stressed the need for

stabilisation of greenhouse concentrations in the atmosphere. Forests were cited as

embodying complex and unique ecological processes, which meet human needs and

environmental values. A Law of the Sea was also framed to protect marine

environment, to control pollution, conservation and exploitation of marine species.

What is the current scenario? Record rise in global warming, reduction in food

production, forest fires, increased vehicle pollution, threat to two-third of the coral

reef in India, destruction of 90,000 life species, vanishing of monsoon forests, soil

erosion destroying 37 per cent of the billion hectare farmlands in the world, increase

in per capita consumption of soil at 20 tonnes each etc. All attributed to increase in

population. ``There is no concept about our common future,'' says noted

environmentalist Prof. M K Prasad.

``Kerala is a testimony to this environmental rampage, currently ongoing at

Mathikettan and Pooyamkutty, leading to desertification. And resulting in landslides

as in Amboori in Thiruvananthapuram which wiped out families. We have no pure air

to breathe, no good water to drink. All types of pollution is on the increase and the
disaster graph is peaking, `'warns Dr Gopalan. ``The current water scarcity we

experience is directly due to the deforestation and consequent desertification. Kerala

does not even have 10 per cent of the 33 per cent forest cover it had.. Actual forest

could be just five per cent, Mr Gopalan says, adding that the rest is on paper.

Of course, Kochi is paying the price for development into the commercial capital of

Kerala. Effluent from the various factories have polluted our rivers, the backwaters

and the seas and despite such vehement protests by locals as in the case of the

Carbon Factory at Ambalamugal, factories continue to ignore effluent treatment,

directly releasing effluent into the rivers or the air.. Atmospheric pollution is so acute

that Kochi has acquired the name of Asthma City.

Smog enfolds the city and eusnophils is a constant presence in the blood of its

inhabitants. ``We had even discovered radio activity in the water due to the effluent

released by a factory in Eloor leading to fish death,'' Mr Gopalan remembers. In fact,

every monsoon sees the slaughter of fish in river due to deliberate release of

untreated effluents. Backwaters and rivers are vulnerable, to not only effluent

pollution but also oil pollution, through the excessive use of motor-driven boats, and

the contribution of the Oil Refinery. ``Whenever oil is handled there is likely to be

pollution of water bodies,'' says Mr Gopalan.

The backwaters itself is vanishing due to encroachment. The Vembanad Lake has

been reduced to one-third of its size, with 65 per cent reclaimed by people. Only 23

per cent of the backwaters remain in Kerala and part of this is under bunds and

barriers. Fish species get extinct in bunds, as there is no way for them to come out

to breed. Mangroves have shrunk from 70,000 ha to just one per cent now. It is only
now that the Forest Minister has become aware of the need for conserving

mangroves, which is a repository of fish and birds. Many traditional fish varieties

have become extinct in Kerala now.

Salim Ali had raved about the avian wealth of Kerala. Were he to visit Kerala now he

would be in tears, for many species of our birds have become extinct due to

environmental degradation and pollution. Even the Mangalavanam off Kochi is a

testimony to it, with migratory birds avoiding the once avian heaven. Even the

famous teals in Pathiramanal, in Alapuzha is just a memory now. The migratory birds

form a prestigious part of the alcoholics' menu in Kerala.

The astronomical increase in the number of vehicles on Kochi roads are not only

breeding traffic jams and accidents, they are also contributing considerably to the

already vitiated atmospheric pollution. Sixty per cent of atmospheric pollution is said

to be due to lead pollution. Mindless horning is also responsible for the increasing

noise pollution in Kerala. Rhetorically, concern for the health of Planet Earth exists.

Practically it is given the go by. A review of the Agenda-21 and other international

agreements show that the goal of sustainable development is still elusive, partly due

to lack of political will.

Principles of good governance such as accountability, stakeholder involvement and

transparency should be enforced. ``Natural resources management must be

undertaken with an ecosystem approach,'' says Prasad. But unless the people

change their attitude to the Earth and ensure a healthy environment, without

polluting it, Earth will not have another chance.