Relevance : GS Paper III
Brazil’s Amazon forests are ablaze with dozens of fires which are paving the way for a global climate catastrophe.
Importance of land management
- Apart from energy and transport, changes in land use patterns too have made significant contributions to emissions of GHGs ..
- Soils have become depleted with heavy use of chemicals.
- Farms have few or no friendly insects.
- Monoculture has reduced the use of indigenous crop varieties.
- Groundwater is depleted and polluted farm runoffs are contributing to contaminated water bodies while destroying biodiversity.
- Sustainable land management can reduce multiple stressors on ecosystems and societies.
The nationalist approach
- Brazil has stated that the amazon fires are an internal matter.
- US has withdrawn from the Paris Climate Agreement stating that it is against the national interests of the U.S.
- But these actions have consequences that far transcend national boundaries.
Moving from national to transnational approach
- Challenges of climate change and land are transnational.
- We need a new planetary ethics that transcend conventional boundaries.
- There have been successful civil society movements that have transcended borders, for example, La Via Campesina.
Conclusion
A Copernican shift in world views is needed. We have to see our place as being part of the planet.
