The Fading Link

Human values are intricately intertwined with environmental ethics. It is incumbent upon humanity that this interconnectedness be not only protected but also preserved and sustained for future generations. The unprecedented nature of climate change and global warming, more pronounced in the last two decades, and its effects on the environment are beginning to be visible across the globe, with no boundaries whatsoever. On World Environment Day this year, the government reported that India’s annual mean temperature rose from 25.05 degrees Celsius in 2001 to 25.74 degrees Celsius in 2024. Temperatures are soaring even in cooler, snow-bound areas of the Earth—both the Arctic and Antarctica recorded temperature rises of 30 degrees Celsius and 40 degrees Celsius respectively above normal in March 2022. Unseasonal rainfall, besides causing losses and damages to humans, animals, and infrastructure, is also having a telling effect on agriculture. Heatwaves are severely affecting human and animal health. The number of stressful days, with their adverse effect on economic activities, is on the rise. Melting glaciers and the resultant rise in sea level are forcing populations to migrate to safer places, both internally and beyond their national boundaries. As per one estimate, India will witness the migration of 45 million people by 2050 due to climate disasters—an alarming consequence of a changing climate!

Besides the physical dimensions of climate change manifestations, it also affects the connectedness between all beings and the environment. Humans of all religious denominations, faiths, and beliefs view the environment as an essential source for the sustenance of all, and therefore encourage its protection and a harmonious relationship with the environment, the planets, rivers, animals, trees, water, and air. The idea of the 17 world Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), promulgated in 2015 by the United Nations and to which India is a signatory, is deeply embedded in human philosophy, which propounds the preservation and conservation of environmental resources. With the adverse changes in climatic conditions and constant degradation of the environment in all its dimensions, it is a collective challenge to mankind to uphold these values.

Humanity preaches the protection and worship of rivers! But how does one worship rivers that are either dying or contaminated to the extent of being unworthy of worshipping? Most rivers in India, if not all, do not give a semblance of river—essentially when flowing through cities. The national capital witnesses the most revered River Yamuna, a constant reason for political slugfests due to its polluted waters. Cities discharge untreated sewage into water bodies—according to one report, approximately 40 million litres per day—polluting our rivers. How does mankind access and, more importantly, address the critical SDG-6, Clean Water and Sanitation? A very stringent Climate Action, SDG-13, is urgently needed to protect not only the rivers but the entire system of water bodies, wetlands, and connected ecosystems. Will the SDG commitment of the comity of nations to mankind not gradually erode in credibility at the current pace of degradation?

Animals form a very important element of the environmental ecosystem, which we need to protect—not only the animals but also their habitat. SDG 15 also advocates the protection of habitat and biodiversity in all its forms and manifestations. Contrary to environmental ethics and the desired climate action, there is rampant degradation of forest cover, encroaching into animal habitats and thereby giving rise to human-animal conflict. A new variety of tiger called the “sugarcane tiger” is now ubiquitous in the Terai region of Uttar Pradesh. Leopards are finding safe havens (really safe?) in the basements of housing societies in Thane and Pune. One government data set reflects that between 2019 and 2023, 1,300 elephants died due to electrocution, poisoning, poaching, and train accidents—raising a very serious question for introspection! Is our quest for growth not contrary to various human traditional practices, and is our climate action not misplaced?

Rampant construction activities are not only raising emission levels and polluting the air and water, but also converting green cover into concrete jungles. Trees are being felled at a faster pace than ever before, outpacing afforestation efforts. This blinded growth and industrialisation, driven by human greed, negates the very concept of environmental ethics. This greed can be gauged from the fact that, as per one government report, between 2008 and 2025, more than three lakh hectares of forest have been converted to non-forest use. The Green Pune Movement—a conglomerate of activists, residents, experts, and environmentalists—fighting against the administration to save the Biodiversity Parks of the Ghats, is indicative of how lopsided and damaging our growth trajectory could be to the environment!

As we enter the era of global boiling from global warming (Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary-General, July 2023), and as the window of opportunity gets narrower and narrower, more audacious action will be needed—not only for our survival but also to protect human values. Is climate change threatening the human value system? That is the answer we need to find—sooner rather than later—lest the window shuts itself.

The writer, a defence expert, is Former Sr Consultant at Uttar Pradesh Disaster Management Authority. Views expressed are personal