3-day IISc meet on climate change

The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) is expanding its research to develop new and innovative methods to address the concerns related to climate change.

Part of the institute’s efforts includes a collaboration with a larger network of international scientists engaged in climate science work.

K Kasturirangan, former Isro chairman and a member of the Raman Research Institute, who chaired a discussion on the matter on Monday, explained that extraordinary innovative solutions are required in an era where conventional methods have failed.

“New solutions in science, finance and methods are needed to address the looming crisis of climate change. But it is not enough to develop just a scientific solution. There has to be better integration of scientific solutions in the various political systems of the world,” he said.

“Societies also have to take cognisance of the problem and get involved,” he added.

One immediate move by the IISc is a three-day conference on climate change, organised in collaboration with the Ministry of Earth Sciences, plus universities and institutes, which will commence on Tuesday.

Dr Anik Bhaduri, Executive Director of Water Future at Griffith University in Australia said the conference could lead to a new action plan and the development of digital tools such as machine learning and artificial intelligence.

However, one of the core issues that the conference will address is that of making water sustainable, according to Dr Andras Szollosi-Nagy, chair of Water Future at the global Future Earth research programme launched at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) in 2012.

Dr Szollosi-Nagy explained the quantity of water entitled to each person on this planet has drastically shrunk in 40 years.

“In 1979, each person had a share of 12,000 cubic metres of water per year. Today, that amount has come down to 5,000 cubic metres,” he said.

When questioned if it was already too late to do anything about climate change as some international scientists have said, Dr Josh Tewksbury, the Global Hub Director of Future Earth at Colorado, said giving up was not the answer.

“The fight won’t be won overnight. It took 200 years since the industrial revolution for the climate to be adversely affected. Reversing the damage may take decades. But for the sake of our children, it must be done,” he said.