Ango Konyak | Climate Change LEADer, Nagaland.
Seven months since I first joined the LEAD India team as a Climate Change LEADer. Seven months since the LEADers began the journey to CHANGE Nagaland’s perspective on Climate Change. Seven Months of touring, training and taking responsibility. Seven months is not long but it has been enough for me to realise that I should be scared, really scared with what I‘ve witnessed in these last seven months. Many of you may not share my fear and to be fair, most of you have not had the privilege (?) to have seen and learned what I have in these past few months. The signs were always there, what I had needed was seeing through new perspective and that’s what LEAD has given me. Today I only want to share with you some climate change experiences I have witnessed in Nagaland during these few months. I can only request our intelligent readers to draw your own conclusions.
Let me take you back a few months back to when Nagaland was getting to know about Earth Hour and its purpose. The Climate Change LEADers took up the challenge of observing Earth Hour in Nagaland and I am proud to say that it was a successful event, but as we were creating awareness on Climate change issues in Nagaland we also went looking for local experiences from people who were experiencing the effects of climate change first hand.
The first experience – we learnt that in Peren district the farmers were now cultivating two months ahead of what they used to. This they say is due to the changing pattern of rainfall which now falls ahead of time, and not only that, they are now unable to cultivate during the winter season due to no rainfall. So now they also lose out on one cultivating season. But as everyone is experiencing this year there has been no heavy rain till now and farmers are already expressing their fear of a bad harvest.
Now what scares me is something far more serious, the inability to predict rainfall and this is going to affect our food production, causing food shortage.
Second experience – we just went on a tour to Kiphere, Pungro and Meluri and met people from various villages. It was a learning experience for me to know that we have a huge area of pine forest within Nagaland. Pine is a beautiful tree and also in big demand for timber. But as we toured the villages we noticed large patches of these pine forests being destroyed by forest fire. Now one may wonder - what is the relation between forest fire and climate change? There is a relation - This year is one of the driest years experienced in Nagaland and even the forests are being affected by this drought. The trees and many plants in the forest have dried up and this becomes a dangerous invitation for forest fires.
The cause of the fire may have been natural or manmade but the bottom line is the forest caught fire and now whats left are dark patches of dead pine forest. Considering Nagas traditionally burn forest, this should not be such an alarming sight however the extent of damage as witnessed during this tour is beyond anything seen before. Now, if we are to experience any more forest fire like that of Wokha District, forget the loss of natural resources, human lives will be at stake.
Third experience – Dimapur district has always been able to boast of the fact that unlike its neighbouring district Kohima it has never really had any water shortage problems. But this fact is being proven wrong now more than ever. With the delay in the monsoons and the water shortage, farmers around Dimapur district fear that there might not even be an harvest this year; from locality to locality one find housewives rant about how their backyard wells have dried up for the first time; people are complaining of the unusually hot climate this year. Let me share with you my own experience. A few weeks back we were visiting a relative one evening and they joked that no one in the house had taken a bath that day because their well was out of water. They had managed to carry just enough water from a relative’s house for the kitchen and bathroom use. But the real story was nothing to laugh about; it was not just their well that had dried up. Our aunt related how they had woken one morning to find their fishery pond had gone completely dry and the fishes were lying about dead, this was shocking because in the twenty two years in that house, they had never seen the pond go dry. For the first time all of us can now honestly claim that NAGALAND IS TRULY A DRY STATE.
We have recently concluded another election and yet again a new government takes office. Our leaders often state that they are there to safe guard the interest on the people. What if the lives of their citizens are under threat? The future is under threat? As elected leaders will they do everything in their power to protect the people?
Going completely off track briefly, recollecting the unfortunate terrorist attack on Mumbai last September, one remembers the shock, the grief and the anger that followed the incident. People everywhere were enraged on finding out that despite several warnings by intelligent sources on a possible attack, authorities had failed to act or had not taken the signs seriously. What followed was a bloodbath of innocent human lives. Any action taken afterwards, no matter how expeditiously or professionally could not make up for the fact that many innocents were dead.
Climate Change is no different from a terrorist threat. It threatens our security of life. Ignored and people will die – simple as that. There might not be bomb blasts and bullets flying, but people will die; People will die of draught, of famine, of heat strokes, of cancer. And any effort later will mean very little when innocents have died.
Though mention made on climate change is always welcomed as creating awareness, what we need now is much more beyond long drawn speeches and dialogues. The warning signs are all there and yet even now these forewarnings are left ignored. Maybe we’re waiting for another disaster and maybe then we’ll hold another candlelight vigil to morn for what we’ve lost? Can’t believe without seeing right.
The Climate Change Leaders (CCL) programme is sponsored by EHDRC, LEAD India (www.leadindia.org ). There are 8 CCL’s in Nagaland and 30 in the North East Region. The Nagaland CCL’s invite you to respond to this article on-line at www.morungexpress.com or email ccl.nagaland@gmail.com
