Following the ‘Bajrang Dal ban’ on the Congress Manifesto and the lackadaisical manifestoes of BJP and Janata Dal (Secular) the focus of voters is on the lack of vision of their politicians. The micromanagement of the politicos during the election time leaves much to be desired. One of the main aspects is of the effects of climate change and its impact on the developmental pointers that the manifestoes of the parties should have had.
A study of manifestoes of all three parties indicates that there is not even one pointer that tells on how to face the effects of Climate change and what are the steps be taken to mitigate them. The greens all across the state are concerned about a huge number of trees that are felled for widening the roads along with the parts of Western Ghats, one of the 18 hotspots for conservation in the world. The governments in the past have denuded forests that had 100-year-old trees by the side of the highways and planted exotic types of trees which is a definite lack of understanding about the environment by the politicians who are in the government. The manifestoes of the parties indicate that they have not consulted the environmental experts about the effects of such widespread denudation of trees.
None of the politicians or the political party leaders have visited the Sirsi Forestry University in Uttara Kannada and has consulted the experts there, and not many have visited even the GKVK in Hebbal which has a forestry division. The special division of the Forest Department is called the Institute of Wood Sciences and Technology at Malleshwaram in Bengaluru. The officials say that only few Forest Department officials visit this very important institute but I have no details of a Minister or a MLA visiting here said an official on conditions of anonymity.
Climate change is real, and the effects of it are shown in all walks of life. The rainfall pattern, depleting water sources, atrociously bad ambient air quality in big cities and uncontrolled closure of water bodies for reclaiming the land for construction and real estate. The infamous Arkavati Layout in Bengaluru and reclaiming of land from the water bodies all across the coast and Malnad shows how ignorant are our politicians and their vision for the future particularly in matters of policy intiatives towards mitigating the effects of climate change.
Politicos from all parties are hand in glove with each other when it comes to building townships and apartments on the lakes and water bodies, but not even one policy intiative has been taken or projected on their manifestoes to plant more trees of endemic varieties, take up compensatory forest development or even bring a policy to stop reclaiming land from water bodies in the state.
According to a report, over 65,000 hectares of water bodies and wetlands have been reclaimed in just 10 districts on the coastal, Malnad and ‘Bayaluseeme’ regions. Even as they are campaigning the henchmen of the politicos from all parties are making layouts, townships and villaments by closing the lakes and other water bodies.
One of the green activists on the coastal area who has been threatened of bodily harm by the real estate honchos in Mangaluru told verito.today that soon after the new government arrives on the scene there will be a fresh wave of tree-cutting and encroaching on the wetlands on a large scale.