Editorial: Disaster Management in Times of Climate Change

A workshop-cum-orientation programme on the GoI-UNDP US AID Project on “Climate Risk Management through Disaster Preparedness and Mitigation” was held in Gangtok on Tuesday. Climate Change and Disaster Risk Management are new responsibilities charged to two different departments in Sikkim – Climate Change to Department of Science & Technology and Disaster Management to Land Revenue Department. The recognition of the two challenges as issues requiring round the year and official attention is welcome and maybe it is time that the two developments were placed under the charge of a single authority. This would be worthwhile because it is now clear that a majority of the natural disasters in the future will be Climate Change triggered, it would thus make sense to make Climate Risk Management a part of disaster management. This, more so in the case of hill states like Sikkim which already flirt too often with natural disasters, the intensity of which will grow as climate begins to change more dramatically. The impact of climate change is becoming increasingly evident in the polar caps and in the Himalayas. High mountain communities have noted that glaciers are retreating at unprecedented rates. The planet’s extremities are canaries in the coal mines - alerting the rest of the world to the extent of the changes that are coming and we, because Sikkim, because it holds that canary, should start getting more involved in the initiatives being undertaken to save the environment because that really is the only cushion to minimise climate change risk.
At the policy level, Sikkim has launched several measures aimed at preserving its environment and understanding where it stands on the climate change risk graph. These, however, remain typically [for Sikkim] top-down affairs and have come as government initiatives thus far. One doesn’t see any private participation in drawing focus to the larger picture. Most NGOs and social organisations are involved in specifically local issues like garbage disposal and plantation works. While these are also necessary, Sikkim needs more who communicate and undertake studies on climate change impact in the State. There is concerted effort in Sikkim on this front thus far. Most people are familiar with climate change, very few unfortunately are aware of how it is manifesting in Sikkim. The closest that the State has come to studying this is aspect is in the committee (or was it as commission?) set up to study the glaciers of Sikkim. It is not clear what came of this study. Events like the workshop-cum-orientation mentioned earlier still do not get into the specifics of climate change impact in Sikkim, and without making this change directly relevant to the people, efforts like one being mooted will remain fund-driven undertakings which, even if they are earnest, remain superficial. Climate Change manifests in subtle and overt ways, its slower encroachment not being noticed until it is too late and its more dramatic displays [like GLOFs] coming so suddenly and destructively that rescue and repairs distracting from the causative factors. The dots are not connected because of which lessons are never learnt and preparation compromised. The workshop-cum-orientation programme on the GoI-UNDP US AID Project on “Climate Risk Management through Disaster Preparedness and Mitigation” could mark a change in attitudes if it acquaints stakeholders and line department officials of how climate change has already impacted Sikkim; then, perhaps management and mitigation plans will be more than copy-paste speculative drafts. The main problem in Sikkim’s handling of climate change and even disaster management plans is that most people engaged for it work on generalised blueprints prepared elsewhere. Such blueprints should be seen as suggested frameworks to be filled out with Sikkim-specific data, traditional knowledge base and local know-how to deliver management and mitigation plans which actually deliver.