Climate Emergency

On World Pneumonia Day, we bring this special episode which looks at the impact of air pollution on our health but most importantly those of our children. I interviewed Dr Anupam Sachdeva, Chairman, Department of Pediatric and chairman of Academics at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in Delhi. He is also the President of Indian academy of paediatrics.

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Every winter Delhi turns into a gas chamber with air pollution causing severe health effects making the city go standstill. But why is Delhi failing and what needs to be done to make it a better place for children to breathe and parents to live. To discuss this and more we talk to Pallavi Pant, who was originally from Delhi but now lives in Boston has over 10 years of experience in air quality measurement and management.

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With over 500 islands, the Andaman and Nicobar islands, with its turquoise beaches and tropical forests has been facing extreme weather events in the recent past. From tsunami to cyclonic storms, these islands have seen it all. Such extreme weather events impact the livelihood of farmers living here, as agriculture is one of the key economic activities for the locals. With no borewell, canals, dams, or huge rivers and streams, the farmers face a humungous challenge every day. Central Island Agriculture Research Institute's scientists engaged with farmers to protect the land and water, and also ensure farmers gained sustainable income through smart climate-resilient farming.

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On 15th August, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, announced that India will ban single-use plastic from October 2nd of this year. But on 2nd October the government decided to phase out single-use plastic by 2022 instead. To discuss this issue and more Suno India reached out to Aparna Susarla, Director, Swach Cooperative.

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Over 4.2 million people from over 170 countries, old and young participated in the Climate March held last Friday. This week too, estimated 2 million people too are expected to participate in the climate strikes to be held all around the world. This is happening at the backdrop of UN Climate Summit being held at New York from September 23rd to 29th.

Suno India has partnered with IndiaSpend, India's leading data journalism portal to bring exclusive podcasts from the Summit. Disha Shetty, Columbia Journalism School, and IndiaSpend reporting fellow interviewed 11-year-old Ridhima Pandey who is among 16 children from across the world who have filed a petition against five countries for failing to uphold their end of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and for not cutting emissions thereby endangering their futures.

Even before Greta Thunberg started the school strike, Ridhima Pandey, a native of Rishikesh, Uttarakhand filed her first petition when she was 9-years-old against the Indian government in the National Green Tribunal. She stated in the petition that the Indian government should take “effective, science-based action to reduce and minimize the adverse impacts of climate change”. Her petition wasn't taken forward by NGT and she has since then petitioned the Supreme Court demanding the same.

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Sagar Island is one of the 102 Islands in the Indian Sundarban. Surrounded by Bay of Bengal on one side, and Hooghly river and Muriganga river on the other two, this island is experiencing real time effects of climate change. With the mangroves being torn down and the fragile land being used for agricultural purposes, those living there say nothing can save them from the wrath of the sea. 
This is their story brought to you by our reporter Vaishali Pandiyen who is in conversation with those living in Sagar Island as well as professor-cum-researcher Tuhin Ghosh from the School of oceanographic studies, Jadavpur University.

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Desertification and land use has been in the news recently a lot more than it usually is mainly because of the UNCCD COP 14 held in Delhi recently. So during the Earth Summit in Rio in 1992, all countries came together and decided to host COPs on three thematic issues Climate Change, Biodiversity and desertification. Since then there have been many many meetings across the world and this year the desertification COP was hosted by India. India is the current President of COP14 and will serve for 2 years. Desertification initially looked as a lone ranger now is looked at more seriously partly because of climate change worsening it. So to understand this very pertinent issue we speak to Rishu Garg - Deputy Director - Watershed Organisation Trust and Kundan Pandey, Sr. Reporter at Down To Earth Magazine.

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We hear of floods in the northeastern state of Assam almost every year, sometimes multiple times in the same year! And with increasing rainfall intensities because of climate change, are the existing embankments in Assam a good adaptation mechanism or are they adding to the problem? Anupam Chakravartty, an independent journalist based out of Guwahati, reaches out to the experts and most vulnerable communities by travelling to Kaziranga and unearthing the reality of the situation.

This ground report brings to you perspectives that are hardly discussed in the Media. For instance, is the govt policy to build concrete houses good adaptation mechanism or going against age-old practices of building houses on stilts?

While every year Kaziranga is flooded we see animals being rescued but we see very little about tribal communities which live in harmony with the animals?

Why is there very little discussion on the need for people living around Kaziranga? 

Are Embankments just another fraudulent practice for speculative profits?

Anupam discusses this and more with Pranab Tulip, a member of a mass organisation called Gipal krishak sangathan and researcher Mirza Zulfequr Rahman. 

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In this episode of climate emergency, we discuss how the lungs of Delhi, the Aravali hills, are being encroached using the illegal purchase of forested common lands. Suno India talks with Journalists Nitin Sethi and Kumar Sambhav about their investigative piece in the Business Standard.

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Home to over 10 million people, Chennai is witnessing dried lakes & reservoirs. There is very limited availability of potable water. Some schools, shops and other public spaces have been shut down, IT offices have asked their employees to work from home and hospitals are rationing water. In this first episode of Climate Emergency, our new podcast on the impact of climate change and growing environmental degradation, we bring you this ground report from Chennai.

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