'Thar survives on 4 inches of rainfall, Bengaluru can too'

Arati Kumar-Rao, the author, spoke about how misguided decisions and ignorance have resulted in the destruction of regions like the Thar, the beaches of Kerala and the Sunderbans.

Marginlands: Indian Landscapes on the Brink’ tells the stories of landscapes across India, including the Thar desert. It details how inhabitants of the Thar desert are self-sufficient when it comes to water. “The locals resurrected an ancient method of reading the land and harvesting the little rain that fell on it,” said Arati Kumar-Rao, the author of the book, which talks about how misguided decisions and ignorance have resulted in the destruction of regions like the Thar, the beaches of Kerala and the Sunderbans.

Arati was talking on the topic ‘Marginlands: An Exploration of Indian Landscapes’, at the recently concluded Green Literature Festival, which was held at Century Club in Cubbon Park on Saturday.

“The Thar receives 4 inches of rainfall annually. In contrast, Bengaluru receives an average of 40 inches of rainfall a year. If they can be self-sufficient, I wonder why we cannot solve Bengaluru’s water woes by paying more attention to its topography,” she explained, adding, “We do not prioritise reading our landscape anymore, and that has resulted in disastrous events.” She cited the example of the 2022 Bengaluru floods that inundated a luxury apartment complex. 

It’s been four years since the first Green Literature Festival was held. Festival director, Benedict Paramanand, conceptualised it as a response to the rising number of authors focusing on environmental literature. 

This year, the sessions discussed pertinent issues related to climate change, conservation and sustainability. 

Featuring over 30 speakers, the one-day event focused on topics such as ‘The Nilgiris in Focus: A Conservationist’s Nightmare’ and ‘Environmental News: Accuracy vs Sensationalism’.

Authors Nagaraja Prakasam and Rajan Mehta, and entrepreneur Vishal Pandya discussed the issue of climate change and inequality in a session titled ‘India’s Green Transition: Opportunities for Investors and Ventures’. The session was moderated by Paramanand, who reiterated that the green transition should be beneficial for all, and not just the privileged. 

In a post-lunch session on ‘Rewilding: The Only Hope’, speakers Ravi Chellam, Alister Scott and Nina Chandavarkar explained the concept of rewilding. “Rewilding is nature-led and human assisted, unlike conservation and restoration, which are human-led,” shared Scott, the co-director of Global Rewilding Alliance.

Talking about the injustice of relocating communities indigenous to certain regions in the name of ‘rewilding’, Chellam, a wildlife biologist and conservation scientist, stated that it is unacceptable that people with the least carbon footprint must pay the price. “If India, over the next century, takes steps to put an end to the destruction of nature, it will be enough to make a huge difference to the environment. We may not need to do anything extra,” Chellam said.

The festival concluded with an awards ceremony with Suresh Heblikar, environmentalist, actor and filmmaker, as the chief guest. Arati won the award in the General Fiction/Non Fiction category, while Ameer Shahul won the Business category award for his book ‘Heavy Metal: How a Global Corporation Poisoned Kodaikanal’. The Children’s category award was won by Rajiv Eipe for ‘Hello Sun’.