BACKGROUND
North East India (NEI) comprises of 8 states that are straddled by the Eastern Himalayas and are co-joined to the Indian mainland by the narrow 33KM “chicken’s neck” north of Bangladesh. The Eastern Himalayan mountain range forms a 1,500-mile-long barrier that separates the lowlands of the Indian subcontinent from the high, dry Tibetan plateau. The ice mass over this region is the third-largest on earth, after the Arctic/Greenland and Antarctic regions; hence, is often referred to as the ‘Third Pole’. In climate terms, this region is also known as the “white spot” given the relative absence of research and data.
As one of the 25 mega biodiversity hotspots of the world, the NEI region is home to over 10,000 plant, 240 mammal and 750 bird species. The region is a rich cultural mosaic of Buddhists, Hindus, Christians and animists, all of whom have lived closely with nature for centuries. Many communities live in isolation, and their livelihoods and traditions deeply depend on natural resources, making conservation an integral part of their lives. NEI has been identified as a carbon sink for Europe. This too has its inherent pitfalls. Although this region has been romanticised as a mythical paradise, it is a fragile land facing many challenges. Apart from harbouring rich cultural and biological diversity, the NEI region is a major supplier of timber, medicines, fibre, oils, spices and condiments, firewood, organic manure, fodder and hydropower. It is reckoned as ‘gene-bank’ and continues to remain an important centre for the origin of the crop diversity and numerous under-utilised and potential future crops.
NEI AND CLIMATE CHANGE: THE RATIONALE
Under a climate regime, the people of NEI (and Bangladesh) face a double jeopardy.
According to Oxford University climatologist Mark New, over the past 30 years snow cover and ice cover may have been reduced by 30 percent in the Eastern Himalayas. There is now a real risk that these glaciers might disappear altogether in the coming decades. The rapid melting of glaciers is initially expected to first contribute to excessive water flow and flooding in the region. Eventually with the full loss of glaciers, the shortage, when it comes, will likely arrive much more abruptly in time; with water systems going from plenty to want in perhaps a few decades or less. This would put an estimated 200 million mostly poor people in NE India and Bangladesh, who literally depend on mighty Ganges and Brahmaputra for fresh water and livelihoods, at risk.
The South Asian peninsula is already facing a serious flooding problem from rising sea level due to climate change along the coast. Even under conservative assumptions, the sea level could rise to 40 cm higher than the present level by the end of the 21st century will submerge a huge area and displace an estimated 30 million people living along the coastal belt of Bangladesh forcing relocation, migration and extreme poverty. Al Gore estimates that 9 million of these “climate refugees” would spill over to the resource rich, yet economically challenged NEI, causing tremendous misery and ethnic conflict.
Notwithstanding the recent controversy over the 4th IPCC projections of Himalayan glacial meltdown by 2035 (which in fact spoke of the entire Hindu-Kush Himayan region, of which the Eastern Himalayas are just a small part of, and the NEI region even more miniscule), there is undeniable and increasing evidence of Climate Change impacts occurring due receding glaciers in Sikkim, Nepal and Bhutan. There is sadly very little research about this region and time based projections are unavailable. This probably justifies the need to undertake initial steps as proposed herein.
All states in NEI, with the possible exception of Sikkim, have gone through varied periods of political unrest in the past. This history of strife, whilst attempting to come to terms with a global economy, has led to considerable economic disparities that have weakened the social fabric. In this context, climate change would only deepen the chasm. Clearly, climate change poses a serious risk to poverty reduction in NEI and ought to be a central issue underlying regional and national level poverty reduction strategy. Given the regional/global nature of the issue, action at the country level alone will not do. Only sustained collective action at the regional level coordinated with global efforts and combined with country specific interventions will help bring about the required changes. Climate change management will require research and action on several broad fronts:
1. Leadership 2. Research
3. Data analysis 4. Collective action
LEADERSHIP AROUND CLIMATE CHANGE: THE FIRST MAJOR STEP
Although portends are ominous for NEI, it is ironic that there is very little action being taken to address climate change issues in the region. It may seem as though just about everyone is waiting for the proverbial “cat to be belled”; be it on the political or social front.
The heat is on. Copenhagen has happened. The world has seen its outcomes. Yet strangely, the people of NEI seem unaffected by all of this. The happenings of COP 15 are vaguely covered in the middle pages of regional dailies. The common person in NEI is oblivious of the significance of the climate talks and its consequences on a fragile ecological based economy like theirs. For a region that can tilt the balance in negotiations with its natural resources, this is dichotomous.
Preliminary studies and surveys have shown that there seems to be a palpable lack of leadership and political will that can address climate issues in NEI and to coherently carry forward the anecdotal evidences from the field into research and then the negotiating arena.
Civil society organizations are hard pressed to build networks given the challenges of communications and creating autonomous platforms. In the absence of a climate intelligentsia, political entities find it difficult to gain clearer understanding of the import of climate change and to arrive at consensus that cuts across ideological differences. The media and academia remain ensconced in their respective realms. The people of NEI are being swept into a slipstream of the forces of climate change without anyone at the helm. The need for leadership within a neutral space on a level playing field has never been more clearly felt.
THE PROPOSAL:
It is proposed to organise two workshops combined with a scooping study on the theme “Leadership for Climate Change: North East India” at Mokokchung in Nagaland on 20th January 2011. The event shall be organised by the Eastern Himalayan Decentralised Resource Centre (EHDRC ) of LEAD India , Eleutheros Christian Society and its protégé program Climate Change Leaders (CCL ). The EHDRC has during 2008-2009 undertaken an innovative programme supported by the British High Commission, New Delhi to identify, select and train 30 climate change leaders from all the eight northeastern states of India, and therefore, this concept and proposal is a follow up activity that builds-up upon the learnings and successes of the program. E HDRC, therefore has the requisite experience, resources and commitment towards issues on leadership and climate change in the region.
During the year long program on Leadership and Climate Change in the region, the Climate Change Leaders were also supported and mentored on individual and collective case studies. Interaction with public leaders, law and policy makers, community leaders, representatives of civil society/NGO, media, and the academia was and essential part of the program.
The proposal therefore proposes to build upon this experience and take it further by inviting such leaders from the NEI for the workshops, as well as, to involve them in the survey and research process. Climate experts from the mainland (including those from the LEAD Fellow network) shall also be present to fill in with thematic knowledge of the subject matter. The scooping research shall be carried out by selected participants and the findings from this research shall feed into the second workshop for further discourse and ways forward.
In terms of the workshop delivery and the participatory research, they shall be through carefully designed interactive modules utilizing tools and methodologies honed through LEAD’s innovative training skills to arrive at the following consensual outcomes:
Hypothesis One: Leadership is not just about leadership by law or power but also about that which is authorized by communities and the public at large. On the other hand, there is the issue of who knows what and is being done to address issues like Climate Change? Is it just about being the appointed leader or is it about being conscious, committed and ability?
1. What are the typologies of leadership required to address climate change in NEI?
a. What is the level of understanding on climate change in regional leaders?
b. What are the emerging trends that point towards a ‘new’ form of leadership?
c. Are leader’s aware of these trends?
d. How much are they willing to do?
Hypothesis Two: Given the special legal status of the northeastern region of India, who actually determines what is done at different levels of governance, as well as, action in the community.
2. Major actors and factors to tackle climate issues in NEI
a. Who are the players in the climate change front?
b. What role do they play or can fulfill?
c. What mandate do they have?
d. What are the opportunities and limiting factors?
Hypothesis Three: Given the special legal status of the northeastern region of India and given its fragile geophysical location, the region needs to evolve special policy imperatives and this is only possible with good leadership, vision and research behind it.
3. Policy imperatives for NEI governments around climate change
a. What are the crosscutting climate related issues that emerge?
b. Which of these issues can be mainstreamed and with what tradeoff’s?
c. Is there a collective vision that can be contrived and what is its mission?
d. What are ‘negotiable’ opportunities that exist?
Hypothesis Four: While a lot has been done and while there is a lot going on or being proposed, the issue of leadership and the opinion of leaders (all inclusive) has been missing. The roadmap for a holistic participatory research agenda must therefore take the opinion of leaders from all sectors and levels.
4. Research agenda and roadmap for collective climate action in NEI
a. What are the research needs around leadership in climate change?
b. How can this research agenda be reached?
c. What is the way forward?
North East India (NEI) comprises of 8 states that are straddled by the Eastern Himalayas and are co-joined to the Indian mainland by the narrow 33KM “chicken’s neck” north of Bangladesh. The Eastern Himalayan mountain range forms a 1,500-mile-long barrier that separates the lowlands of the Indian subcontinent from the high, dry Tibetan plateau. The ice mass over this region is the third-largest on earth, after the Arctic/Greenland and Antarctic regions; hence, is often referred to as the ‘Third Pole’. In climate terms, this region is also known as the “white spot” given the relative absence of research and data.
As one of the 25 mega biodiversity hotspots of the world, the NEI region is home to over 10,000 plant, 240 mammal and 750 bird species. The region is a rich cultural mosaic of Buddhists, Hindus, Christians and animists, all of whom have lived closely with nature for centuries. Many communities live in isolation, and their livelihoods and traditions deeply depend on natural resources, making conservation an integral part of their lives. NEI has been identified as a carbon sink for Europe. This too has its inherent pitfalls. Although this region has been romanticised as a mythical paradise, it is a fragile land facing many challenges. Apart from harbouring rich cultural and biological diversity, the NEI region is a major supplier of timber, medicines, fibre, oils, spices and condiments, firewood, organic manure, fodder and hydropower. It is reckoned as ‘gene-bank’ and continues to remain an important centre for the origin of the crop diversity and numerous under-utilised and potential future crops.
NEI AND CLIMATE CHANGE: THE RATIONALE
Under a climate regime, the people of NEI (and Bangladesh) face a double jeopardy.
According to Oxford University climatologist Mark New, over the past 30 years snow cover and ice cover may have been reduced by 30 percent in the Eastern Himalayas. There is now a real risk that these glaciers might disappear altogether in the coming decades. The rapid melting of glaciers is initially expected to first contribute to excessive water flow and flooding in the region. Eventually with the full loss of glaciers, the shortage, when it comes, will likely arrive much more abruptly in time; with water systems going from plenty to want in perhaps a few decades or less. This would put an estimated 200 million mostly poor people in NE India and Bangladesh, who literally depend on mighty Ganges and Brahmaputra for fresh water and livelihoods, at risk.
The South Asian peninsula is already facing a serious flooding problem from rising sea level due to climate change along the coast. Even under conservative assumptions, the sea level could rise to 40 cm higher than the present level by the end of the 21st century will submerge a huge area and displace an estimated 30 million people living along the coastal belt of Bangladesh forcing relocation, migration and extreme poverty. Al Gore estimates that 9 million of these “climate refugees” would spill over to the resource rich, yet economically challenged NEI, causing tremendous misery and ethnic conflict.
Notwithstanding the recent controversy over the 4th IPCC projections of Himalayan glacial meltdown by 2035 (which in fact spoke of the entire Hindu-Kush Himayan region, of which the Eastern Himalayas are just a small part of, and the NEI region even more miniscule), there is undeniable and increasing evidence of Climate Change impacts occurring due receding glaciers in Sikkim, Nepal and Bhutan. There is sadly very little research about this region and time based projections are unavailable. This probably justifies the need to undertake initial steps as proposed herein.
All states in NEI, with the possible exception of Sikkim, have gone through varied periods of political unrest in the past. This history of strife, whilst attempting to come to terms with a global economy, has led to considerable economic disparities that have weakened the social fabric. In this context, climate change would only deepen the chasm. Clearly, climate change poses a serious risk to poverty reduction in NEI and ought to be a central issue underlying regional and national level poverty reduction strategy. Given the regional/global nature of the issue, action at the country level alone will not do. Only sustained collective action at the regional level coordinated with global efforts and combined with country specific interventions will help bring about the required changes. Climate change management will require research and action on several broad fronts:
1. Leadership 2. Research
3. Data analysis 4. Collective action
LEADERSHIP AROUND CLIMATE CHANGE: THE FIRST MAJOR STEP
Although portends are ominous for NEI, it is ironic that there is very little action being taken to address climate change issues in the region. It may seem as though just about everyone is waiting for the proverbial “cat to be belled”; be it on the political or social front.
The heat is on. Copenhagen has happened. The world has seen its outcomes. Yet strangely, the people of NEI seem unaffected by all of this. The happenings of COP 15 are vaguely covered in the middle pages of regional dailies. The common person in NEI is oblivious of the significance of the climate talks and its consequences on a fragile ecological based economy like theirs. For a region that can tilt the balance in negotiations with its natural resources, this is dichotomous.
Preliminary studies and surveys have shown that there seems to be a palpable lack of leadership and political will that can address climate issues in NEI and to coherently carry forward the anecdotal evidences from the field into research and then the negotiating arena.
Civil society organizations are hard pressed to build networks given the challenges of communications and creating autonomous platforms. In the absence of a climate intelligentsia, political entities find it difficult to gain clearer understanding of the import of climate change and to arrive at consensus that cuts across ideological differences. The media and academia remain ensconced in their respective realms. The people of NEI are being swept into a slipstream of the forces of climate change without anyone at the helm. The need for leadership within a neutral space on a level playing field has never been more clearly felt.
THE PROPOSAL:
It is proposed to organise two workshops combined with a scooping study on the theme “Leadership for Climate Change: North East India” at Mokokchung in Nagaland on 20th January 2011. The event shall be organised by the Eastern Himalayan Decentralised Resource Centre (EHDRC ) of LEAD India , Eleutheros Christian Society and its protégé program Climate Change Leaders (CCL ). The EHDRC has during 2008-2009 undertaken an innovative programme supported by the British High Commission, New Delhi to identify, select and train 30 climate change leaders from all the eight northeastern states of India, and therefore, this concept and proposal is a follow up activity that builds-up upon the learnings and successes of the program. E HDRC, therefore has the requisite experience, resources and commitment towards issues on leadership and climate change in the region.
During the year long program on Leadership and Climate Change in the region, the Climate Change Leaders were also supported and mentored on individual and collective case studies. Interaction with public leaders, law and policy makers, community leaders, representatives of civil society/NGO, media, and the academia was and essential part of the program.
The proposal therefore proposes to build upon this experience and take it further by inviting such leaders from the NEI for the workshops, as well as, to involve them in the survey and research process. Climate experts from the mainland (including those from the LEAD Fellow network) shall also be present to fill in with thematic knowledge of the subject matter. The scooping research shall be carried out by selected participants and the findings from this research shall feed into the second workshop for further discourse and ways forward.
In terms of the workshop delivery and the participatory research, they shall be through carefully designed interactive modules utilizing tools and methodologies honed through LEAD’s innovative training skills to arrive at the following consensual outcomes:
Hypothesis One: Leadership is not just about leadership by law or power but also about that which is authorized by communities and the public at large. On the other hand, there is the issue of who knows what and is being done to address issues like Climate Change? Is it just about being the appointed leader or is it about being conscious, committed and ability?
1. What are the typologies of leadership required to address climate change in NEI?
a. What is the level of understanding on climate change in regional leaders?
b. What are the emerging trends that point towards a ‘new’ form of leadership?
c. Are leader’s aware of these trends?
d. How much are they willing to do?
Hypothesis Two: Given the special legal status of the northeastern region of India, who actually determines what is done at different levels of governance, as well as, action in the community.
2. Major actors and factors to tackle climate issues in NEI
a. Who are the players in the climate change front?
b. What role do they play or can fulfill?
c. What mandate do they have?
d. What are the opportunities and limiting factors?
Hypothesis Three: Given the special legal status of the northeastern region of India and given its fragile geophysical location, the region needs to evolve special policy imperatives and this is only possible with good leadership, vision and research behind it.
3. Policy imperatives for NEI governments around climate change
a. What are the crosscutting climate related issues that emerge?
b. Which of these issues can be mainstreamed and with what tradeoff’s?
c. Is there a collective vision that can be contrived and what is its mission?
d. What are ‘negotiable’ opportunities that exist?
Hypothesis Four: While a lot has been done and while there is a lot going on or being proposed, the issue of leadership and the opinion of leaders (all inclusive) has been missing. The roadmap for a holistic participatory research agenda must therefore take the opinion of leaders from all sectors and levels.
4. Research agenda and roadmap for collective climate action in NEI
a. What are the research needs around leadership in climate change?
b. How can this research agenda be reached?
c. What is the way forward?
Submitted by:
Dr. Chingmak Kejong , Raj K. Verma and Amba Jamir ,
Ms Phutoli Chingmak
LEAD Fellows, LEAD India
