The Current Situation
Climate change may seem abstract and distant for many of us. However, it is one of the gravest challenges facing humankind and many countries are already feeling the impact. According to Buis (2019), “… the Earth System is out of whack: Our lower atmosphere is warming, the ocean is accumulating more energy, land surfaces are absorbing energy, and Earth’s ice is melting.” As such, seas will be higher, the rain will be more diluvial and storms get fiercer which shows that the harsh reality of the weather will definitely get worse. Therefore, in the coming years, climate change is expected to cause more serious droughts, intense rainfall, and food shortages.
This is due to the main cause which is a phenomenon known as the ‘Greenhouse Effect. But what contributes to it? From pollution to overpopulation, human activities are driving up the Earth’s temperature and fundamentally changing the world around us. As such, gases in the atmosphere such as water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and chlorofluorocarbons allow sunlight to pass through it but prevent some of the heat from escaping, thus acting like the glass walls of a greenhouse. Therefore, the more greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the more heat gets trapped, which in turn strengthened the greenhouse effect and increase the earth’s temperature.
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Worldwatch Institute (2007) found that there are two distinct phenomena shaping the Earth, which are more than half of the world’s population is urbanized, and thus, global warming-induced climate change, which is a grave threat. As a global concern, climate change is progressively associated with urban concerns such as policies that influence the conversions of people nowadays. Whether it is about mitigation or requirements of adaptation, cities around the world are identified as critical areas, especially in cities that are dependent on the production and consumption of crucial resources such as food and water. Also, the sheer number of poor people living in urban areas in developing countries, this gives emphasis on how important it is for these cities to prepare for the impacts of climate change and reduced their anthropogenic contribution toward limiting greenhouse gas emissions (Dodman, Bicknell, & Satterthwaite, 2012).
This paper explores the Indian and Bangladeshi contexts where there are also debates about issues concerning strategies for both mitigation and adaptation and also, their relationship. In particular, this paper examines climate change discourses and responses in two capital cities, New Delhi and Dhaka, which encounter different types of experiences and their responses to tackling climate change. The paper first outlines how developing countries suffer from economic inequalities due to climate change. It then focuses on specific climate change challenges in New Delhi and Dhaka before turning to look at the solutions made for climate change as a whole. And lastly, it concludes with a final reflection on sustainability, which both cities are working towards to.
Economic Inequality as an Impact of Climate Change
Beuret (2019) commented that projections have estimated poorer countries to be greatly affected by climate change over the coming decades while richer countries are responsible for the high amounts of carbon dioxide released in the air which may be used to their advantage in the short term. Moreover, according to Diffenbaugh and Burke (2019), global warming has increased economic inequality since the 1960s. Research conducted an analysis of over 50 years of data on the temperature and gross domestic product (GDP) across 165 countries to estimate the effects of temperature fluctuations on their economic growth. As such, temperature variations due to climate change have helped cooler countries such as Norway and Sweden, to experience a per capita growth of more than 30% due to global warming. However, it has dragged down economic growth in warmer nations such as India and Nigeria, to economies that are more than 30% smaller than what they would have been without global warming.
Furthermore, historical data shows that crop yield and people’s health are better when it’s neither too hot nor too cold. This means that in cold countries, a little bit of warmth can help, and otherwise for places that are hot. Hence, countries with high historical emissions are among those that have enjoyed the highest per capita GDP and fastest economic growth since the 1960s, and for poorer countries, global warming has in fact reduced per capita income by 17-30%. This emphasizes the importance of increasing sustainable energy access for economic development in poorer countries.
Correspondingly, warmer temperatures are slowing economic development in poorer countries and also, making weather more extreme. This means not only there would be more intense major storms, floods, and heavy snowfall but also, longer and more frequent droughts. These changes in weather pose challenges. As such, growing crops becomes more difficult as the areas where plants and animals can live shift and, water supplies are diminished. According to Agarwal and Narain (1991), “The government is the biggest and the worst land and water owner in the country.” This implies that a particular country will require much more than just glib words about the people’s contribution or any environmental developments as the demand for policies to heighten and strengthen local democracy needs to be more receptive towards the community. Therefore, the impacts of higher temperatures and extreme weather events have indeed affected the economic performance of countries and the livelihoods of poor people.
In cities like New Delhi and Dhaka, more than half of the population lives in slums, which caused them to be the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Both capital cities also have large nation-level concentrations of urban lower and upper-class populations. Hence, both are good examples of how a particular type of consumption that fuelled the economic growth model is justifiable, not only ecologically unsustainable but also as a catalyst for global warming. As opposed to cities in developed countries where mitigation is the predominant strategy, these cities have indeed multiple climate change challenges to encounter. Especially, in a developing country, the need for basic development of its people and the elimination of poverty is essential (“Developing Countries”, n.d.).
Case Study in New Delhi, India
In India, climate change has been viewed from multiple benefitting points as reflected by the evolving understanding that it provides crucial opportunities to India which can help India’s case domestically and internationally (Shukla, & Dhar, 2011). On the other hand, climate change has also unleashed serious threats to the high populations of poor and vulnerable people, its highly diverse ecologies, and its ongoing haphazard rural and urban transformations (Rajamani, 2009). As such, India is known to be the most vulnerable country to climate change followed by countries like Pakistan, the Philippines, and Bangladesh (Reuters Staff, 2018). This is so because India is known to have one of the highest densities of economic activity in the world, thus resulting in its vulnerability.
In the light of this background, New Delhi is currently at the critical stage of “severe emergency” levels of smog due to 48,683 crop fires that occurred recently, despite experiencing colder weather conditions, which have been a key contributor to Northern India’s pollution crisis (Ellis-Petersen, 2019). According to a World Health Organization survey, New Delhi is the worst of any capital city globally as the poor air quality has indeed damaged the lungs of 2.2 million children. The severity of the pollution has caused the city a public health emergency and even forced school closures. The noxious and hazardous air has even made many residents stay indoors and also, caused a large number of people, mainly from poor communities to suffer from chronic respiratory diseases. As such, electronic signboards have been placed alongside the roads to indicate the air quality index, which measures tiny particulate matter in the air known as smog. Furthermore, the majority of its flights were diverted from its airport due to poor visibility in the air. Hence, the city government has figured out a way to restrict the use of private vehicles on the roads.
Moving forward, as part of their mitigation strategy, New Delhi has implemented the Odd-Even scheme to help reduce air pollution (Agencies, 2019). As such, vehicles with number plates ending with even numbers will be allowed to run on even dates and vice versa for those with odd numbers. The rule is enforced from 8 a.m. till 8 p.m. every day except Sundays. This implementation has significantly improved the air quality and motivates its people to contribute as much as they can to help save the Earth. Additionally, according to Saha (2019), the French minister, Brune Poirson mentioned during her visit to New Delhi, “I believe the Indian government is acting”. This implies that certainly Indian leaders are aware of the global condition and have taken initiatives to achieve sustainability.
Case Study in Dhaka, Bangladesh
The economic effects of climate change have indeed contributed to a potential increase in poverty in Bangladesh. According to Bhattacharya (2018), it stated that “Worsening weather conditions are driving farmers in Bangladesh out of their homes.” This implies that many who are living in the coastal region and suffering from poor households are greatly affected as they depend on climate-sensitive sectors such as agriculture and fisheries for their livelihoods and thus, are likely to live in the capital city of Dhaka as founded by the research. Since it is due to the rising sea levels that are caused by global warming, these impacts will affect the city in terms of agricultural productivity and risks to other livelihoods and settlements.
As such, Dhaka’s dense population is largely poor, with approximately 34% of Dhaka City living below $1.90 per day (“Dhaka Population 2019”, n.d.). Also, most of the population lives in slums and squatter dwellings, which are frequently exposed to flooding and waterlogging that prevents them to gain access to safe water practices and proper sanitation services. With a very large number of poor people relying on the nation’s natural resources for their livelihoods, a changing climate would definitely bring a disadvantage for them. Hence, flooding and sea-level rise will continue to contribute significantly to the effects of climate change.
Therefore, this led to the Dhaka-based International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD) proposing on providing climate funds on the local level so as to support resettlement strategies (Opu, & McDonnell, 2019). Many millions of Bangladeshis will move from their hometowns which are in the low-lying areas to inland towns such as Dhaka. As such, ICCCAD is working to allow ease in the migration process by creating “climate-resilient, migrant-friendly” towns. Moreover, they also encourage students from vulnerable coastal areas to move inland for study purposes. This implies that the negative phenomenon of climate displacement is aimed to transform into a positive development. Despite Dhaka being perceived as the country’s bastion of economic opportunity, it is also suffering from extreme poverty, public health hazards, bad human traffic, and other risks which include its own vulnerability to floods. Hence, with climate change creating economic refugees, mitigating global warming could provide these people with lesser incentives to migrate to other prosperous countries and protect their home economies from undermining.
Climate Change Approach
Since it is we, humans who have caused climate change, we are responsible to reduce the impact of our activities on the climate and the impact of climate change on us. While the rapid rate of climate change is caused by humans, humans are also the ones who can combat it. Chakrabarty (2017) stated that the approach to climate change is “a challenge of how to source the energy needed for the human pursuit of some universally accepted ends of economic development so that billions of humans are pulled out of poverty”. For example, if we work to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy sources, like solar and wind which don’t produce greenhouse gas emissions, it is still possible to prevent some of the worst effects of climate change. Hence, the effects of climate change are highly dependent on what everyone else does as a whole rather than an individual contributing to save the Earth. Moving forward, indeed someone would have an incentive to free-ride on the sacrifices of those who are protecting the Earth from further damage. As such, the two approaches are mitigation and adaptation, which is essential in reducing the human and economic costs of climate change.
Mitigation, which refers to the efforts to curb emissions that is a vicious collective-action problem, is well entrenched within global considerations due to affiliated financial and technological aspects. But mostly, there appears to be a general agreement that adaptation is more imperative for developing and underdeveloped countries (Sovacool, & Linnér, 2016). Moreover, Satterthwaite (2014) argues that from a particular urban viewpoint, both the recent requirements of adaptation and mitigation and also, the never-ending issues of poverty and disaster risk reduction have contributed immensely to the existing problems faced by urban areas of low and middle-income nations.
With reference to the principles of equity and a common but differentiated responsibility and respective capability (CBDRRC) that is anchored in a historical argument about justice and growth, this would allow commitments on mitigation that depreciates space for discussions on development issues or even allow adaptation strategies to be made for current climate effects (Honkonen, 2009). However, according to the principles, climate concerns are not only about the environment but instead, reflect economic priorities, financial arrangements, energy security, and local level developments. As such, protecting the poor and the vulnerable and also, engineering new and innovative markets are motivating factors toward sustainability. Therefore, with proper enforcement and strategies developed, we will then be able to afford and be ready when we need it. Hence, everything else must bend at the knee in order to safeguard the existence of the nation.
Conclusion
Andersen and Nielsen (2009) found that nature has become a premise of urban life, replacing local, geographical borders with global challenges. Climate change has magnified the connections between urban areas and environmental transformations. The improvement of infrastructure, transportation, energy consumption, generation of waste, and the number of greenhouse gases released explains the role of urban in worsening global warming.
Cities in developing countries like Bangladesh and India have to manage climate change challenges in various ways. Indeed, there is a high population of extremely vulnerable groups living in fairly vulnerable areas of cities that are directly affected by climate change. However, these cities are also becoming centers of rapid economic development and have increasing numbers of consuming groups boosting the scales of greenhouse gas emissions. Hence, the scenario on the question of mitigation and adaptation also complicates the positions of developing countries between the poor majority and the middle/upper classes which has a huge impact on the structural inequalities.
This paper has demonstrated that Dhaka in Bangladesh and New Delhi in India, which are known as the capital cities, are confronted by immense environmental challenges concerning, energy consumption, water pollution, and air pollution, and its approaches. According to Ghosh (2017), “There is an additional element of the uncanny in events triggered by climate change, one that did not figure in my experience of the Delhi tornado.” This implies that climate change certainly is casting new uncertainties on these existing challenges. Thus, with climate change and its accompanying uncertainties, there is a possibility to reimagine urban futures in a way that is more sustainable and just. As such, they are promoting new green features and developments, which do not necessarily lead to environmental sustainability, but also as mentioned in the cases examined, the poor and the vulnerable groups are usually left out of the equation as they continue to bear the burden of environmental policies and planning.
There is also an indisputable belief that ‘urbanization is the future. As such, besides assuming that nature is inferior to technological issues, it is a belief that is used to justify all kinds of ecological modernization, migrations, and change in land use. Additionally, in the Indian context, Todhunter (2012) found that “There appears to be an implicit belief that ‘urban is good’, underpinned by a blind faith in the ‘free’ market and a western model of development.” Therefore, at times when a business model has to be decided on, it is essential to question its nature of benefits distribution, how is it related to larger socio-economic goals, and what are the impacts on ecological sustainability. Also, to be able to deal with climate change challenges, mutual efforts at all levels are needed. Hence, this paper has tried to show that currently, such integration is not only missing but rather there are insufficient efforts in constructing it towards sustainability and thus, producing benefactors and losers simultaneously.
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