Bl-emissjonijiet Indjani li qed jogħlew minn tlieta sa erba’ darbiet aktar malajr mill-medja dinjija, wasal iż-żmien li tintemm il-politika tal-gvern li tinħeba wara l-foqra biex jiddefendu l-elite li jgawdu l-livelli ta’ konsum tat-Tramuntana.

NOTHING exposes the bankruptcy of “GDP-ism”, or obsession with gross domestic product growth, better than India’s and Pakistan’s performance where it matters — human development. The latest United Nations Human Development Report shows India has in one year slipped two notches in the Human Development Index to the pitiable rank of 128 among 177 countries. And Pakistan has fallen by one rank to 136.

Thanks to lopsided elite-oriented growth, India and Pakistan remain firmly within the bottom one-third of the world’s nations in welfare. India’s Human Poverty Index rank has fallen — despite becoming the world’s second fastest-growing economy.

This abysmal performance isn’t explained by low incomes. Tajikistan, with a per capita income 62 per cent lower than India’s, has a higher HDI rank (122).

Poor people in big Southern countries like China (HDI rank 81), Brazil (70), Mexico (52) and Indonesia (107), and even in smaller Malaysia (63), Thailand (78), Sri Lanka (99), Uzbekistan (113) and South Africa (121) have better life-chances than India’s poor. The poor of Laos (130) and Bhutan (133) are better off than Pakistan’s poor.

Among 100 million-plus-population countries, only Nigeria and Bangladesh are worse off than India and Pakistan.

The primary cause is massive (mal)distribution of growth, and deliberate neglect of the underprivileged. We’re condemning a majority to suffer life-long disadvantage. This year’s HDR alarms us for another reason. It’s devoted to climate change, the greatest menace to humanity after mass-destruction weapons. Global warming isn’t an apocalypse waiting to happen. It’s a tangible reality for millions. Between 2000 and 2004, there were an average of 326 “climate shocks” a year. These annually affected some 260 million, more than double the number in the first half of the 1980s. People in the South are 79 times more likely to suffer droughts, floods and storms. Monsoon floods and storms this year displaced 14 million people in India, seven million in Bangladesh and three million in China. In sub-Saharan Africa, 10 million were affected by drought and two million by flooding.

Hekk kif id-dinja tinqala’ lejn “punt ta’ qabża”—li lil hinn minnu ssir impossibbli azzjoni korrettiva — se tħalli mijiet ta’ miljuni jiffaċċjaw malnutrizzjoni, skarsezza tal-ilma u telf ta’ għajxien. Traġikament, il-foqra, li huma l-inqas responsabbli għat-tisħin globali, huma sfurzati jġarrbu l-akbar spejjeż umani tiegħu. Dan huwa doppjament inġust.

Sakemm ma tiġix arrestata, it-tibdil fil-klima se jwassal għal tkissir tas-sistemi agrikoli, b'600 miljun ruħ aktar jiffaċċjaw malnutrizzjoni, 1.8 biljun addizzjonali jiffaċċjaw stress tal-ilma, u aktar minn 330 miljun ruħ f'żoni kostali kkonfrontati bi spostament.

Climate change is not only depressing crop yields, lowering food security and increasing human distress. It’s also forcing vulnerable people to adopt harmful coping strategies such as cutting back on food intake, withdrawing children from school, and reducing spending on health. Children born in Ethiopia in drought years are 36 per cent more likely to grow up stunted than those born in normal times. These trends threaten to reverse human development in entire societies.

L-HDR jenfasizza l-imperattiv li tiġi evitata żieda fit-temperatura ta 'aktar minn 2 gradi Celsius matul il-perjodu ta' qabel ir-Rivoluzzjoni Industrijali. Jikkritika wkoll bil-qawwa l-politiki tal-Istati Uniti u tal-Unjoni Ewropea dwar it-tisħin globali, u jargumenta li ma jistgħux jevitaw tibdil perikoluż fil-klima.

Il-pajjiżi tal-OECD qed jonqsu milli jilħqu anki l-miri modesti għat-tnaqqis tal-emissjonijiet tal-gassijiet serra (GHG) taħt il-Protokoll ta’ Kyoto: tnaqqis ta’ 5.2 fil-mija fuq l-1990 sal-2008-2012. Tant huma ħżiena dawn il-miri li se jieħdu 30 Kyotos biex tistabbilizza l-klima globali.

The worst culprits are the US and Australia which haven’t ratified the Protocol, but recklessly increased emissions. Even the EU has on average achieved emission cuts of only two per cent instead of its eight per cent commitment under Kyoto. The report calls for a “twin-track” approach to combat global warming, which combines stringent mitigation with adaptation to climate change. It proposes that the developed countries should cut their emissions by at least 30 per cent by 2020 and 80 per cent by 2050. The Southern countries should cut emissions by 20 per cent by 2050, starting 2020.

Il-gvernijiet tal-Indja u tal-Pakistan jgħajtu bis-suġġeriment li għandhom jaċċettaw tnaqqis fl-emissjonijiet għax storikament, l-attivitajiet industrijali tat-Tramuntana huma responsabbli għat-tisħin globali.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s maximum offer is to keep India‘s per capita GHG emissions less than those of the North. This won’t do. China and India, and to an extent, Pakistan, are imitating the North in profligate energy and luxury consumption even as they profit from the irrational carbon trading system. Chinese and Indian emissions are rising three to four times faster than the world average. China will soon replace the US as the world’s largest emitter. India has overtaken Japan to become the world’s Number Four.

Huwa jistmellu li l-gvernijiet tagħna għandhom jinħbew wara l-foqra biex jiddefendu l-interessi tal-elite. Li tiċċita emissjonijiet per capita ma tagħmilx sens fis-soċjetajiet profondament inugwali tagħna fejn is-sinjuri jgawdu livelli ta' konsum tat-Tramuntana filwaqt li l-maġġoranza tgħix b'mod frugal.

To acquire global credibility and respect, China, India and Pakistan must show moral clarity and a universal vision. At Bali, they must facilitate the signing of a successor convention to Kyoto, and join efforts to cap and reduce emissions.

It-tisħin globali jitlob rimedji radikali ġodda. Jekk id-dinja trid tnaqqas il-konsum ġenerali filwaqt li ttejjeb l-istandards tal-għajxien għall-foqra, ma tistax tuża mudelli u metodi ta 'żvilupp attwali, jew regoli li jirregolaw il-kummerċ, it-teknoloġija, l-investiment u l-finanzi.