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Central Chronicle
The recently published Human Development Report 2007 warns a temperature rise between 3 and 4 degree would displace 340 million through flooding and drought. The melting glaciers would make drinking water scarce for 1.8 billion people. The world is left with only ten years to change course. The United Nation's Climate Change Conference at Bali which is scheduled from 3 to 14 December 2007 would ask the rich countries to cut carbon emission by 80% and the developing nations by 20% before 2050. The Report shows how natural disasters between 2000 to 2004 has affected 262 million people across the world out of which 98% belong to the developing nations.
Climate change, which would cause large scale destruction to earth happens due to the simple reason of pursuing a few mono sectors for growth of economy. Industry sector generates immense wealth at the cost of immense damage to the environment. The best example is China. According to World Bank report China has 16 of the world's most polluted cities. Over 70% of water in China's seven major rivers system is unsuitable for human contact. The per head water resources in China is among the lowest in the world. Here the market economy, which was hyped to help mankind maximises the profit of the global traders. Country with technology advancement holds the key for price monopoly as the new technology always sales at a premium.
In the 18th century, Economist Adam Smith was not knowing his market economic theory would be practiced by greedy vested interest global traders, who have nothing to do with human sufferings. Today more and more people are facing exclusion in health and education sectors. Market economy has not helped them. Majority of people in the developing nations cannot afford to diagnose complicated diseases. Volumes of reports prepared by various agencies have shown how poverty and human sufferings has increased across the world.
The pursuit of wealth and power among the world leaders is so aggressive that it reenacts Wahab chasing the Mobydick, the white whale in the midst of danger. The economy of scale as prescribed by Adam Smith cuts the cost of production to increase the scale for accumulation of wealth, which strikes at the very root of sustainable economic development. Industries should discreetly produce things keeping in view of the seriousness of global warming. Why there should be the mass production of plastic baskets if bamboo basket can meet the domestic requirement. The economy of scale reduces the cost of plastic baskets and helps disappear bamboo craft from the market. When Bamboo basket disappears people permanently depend on plastic products. There are hundreds of bio-degradable utility and decorative items available for human use. Hundreds of biodegradable items have disappeared from countries across the world.
In the 19 th century poverty was so acute in western and European nations that they had no option but to adopt industrialization. Terrible poverty in England lead to large scale riot and arson which is known as bloody Sunday of 1887. War ravaged western and European nations tried to escape from debt and inflation after the Second World War and resorted to market economy for wealth and power without understanding its ethic and long term impact. As a result the world has witnessed the death of many natural sectors across the world in the aggressive pursuit of market economy. In the 17 th century, 80 percent people in Europe depended on agriculture and natural sector. In the 19 the century the number had reduced to 7% only.
It is suicidal to produce everything in industry. Market economy, which aimed to serve mankind, gave birth an economy of greed to end mankind. Mahatma Gandhi rightly said the world has enough to satisfy the need of every person but not the greed. The pursuit of wealth for power has become so dominating that developed nations hardly see reason in changing their course inspite of the clear warning from the climate scientists that the world has ten years left to change its course. So far there has been hundreds of conferences held across the world to save environment and volumes of reports on climate change gather dust. When the world has only ten years left let us hope the Bali Conference on climate would bring some change.
Sudhansu R Das
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