Joshimath is the latest warning to ensure the creation of decent and green jobs in the country, which has committed to a nationally declared emission target of net zero by 2070. Despite India’s ranked fifth global climate risk index is 2020, the country has no available data indications on climate change.
More than four decades are over, the climate change topic has been heard and after the international treaty known as the Paris summit, the 2015 issues of climate deliberations have intensified with the effect of frequent environmental changes on earth.
Of late, the United Nations Climate Change Conference called COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, ended with a resolution of setting up a “loss and damage” fund for vulnerable countries which are being hit by climate catastrophes. For which the Conference of the Parties (COP) agreed to establish a ‘transitional committee to make recommendations on how to operationalize both the new funding arrangements and sources of the fund, which would be finalized at the COP28 summit that is going to be held in the United Arab Emirates 2023.
Since the ‘loss and damage,’ the fund move has been considered a real breakthrough of COP27 to mitigate climate change impacts on earth, which continues to intensify in forthcoming years.
Here a big question is, what steps has India taken, towards issues of harming workers due to climate change, especially informal workers whose incomes still depend on unpredictable working conditions and mostly their income matters of fossil fuel? More than that, climate change still needs to be brought out as a serious agenda point of deliberations for common people, civil societies, trade union movements, academics, stakeholders of Governments, and legislative bodies at panchayats, assemblies, and parliament.
Even, attempts have not been made to examine climate-related risks in light of the persistent dangers that informal workers face, such as their workplace health risks and poor living conditions, in the background ILO report wherein prediction of losing over 34 million full-time jobs by 2030 in India due to climate change.
India, home to above 25 percent of the world’s population, has 43.9 percent of citizens constituting the working population however about 91 percent of the latter belong to the informal sectors’. Hence, the informal sector plays a pivotal role in the day-to-day life of people and adds to the national economy, despite the earnings per person in the informal sector being about one-eighth of his/her similitude in the formal sector. Nevertheless, essentially the response to climate change has neglected informal economies.
Various environmental studies have identified the main manifestations of climate change impacts. They are primarily greenhouse gas concentrations, sea level rise, ocean acidification, cryosphere, heat waves, changing ecosystem, lack of food security, forced population migration flood, landslide, drought, pollution, and deforestation. Which workers most affected are the working poor, self-employed, informal, seasonal, casual workers, and workers from micro and small-scale enterprises, who have to dependent on climate-sensitive resources like water, agriculture as a food substance and electricity, etc
Hot waves, Floods, Pollution Hit
According to Duke University, researchers cited that rising heat and humidity due to global climate has prompted significant loss in labor hours across the globe. Among them, India is one of the worst affected countries. Heatwave frequency and vividness are rising in India. In this background, the study has reported that India lost around 259 billion hours of labor annually between 2001 and 2020 due to the impacts of humid heat. That means the loss of those productive hours cost India $624 billion (Rs 46 lakh crore)–equivalent to almost 7 percent of a year’s gross domestic product (GDP).
Referring to this, the world bank report says around 47.1 million labor forces were affected by the heat wave in India.
Government statistics cited that heat stroke has killed over 20,000 undocumented laborers in the previous 20 years, which makes it the second-deadliest natural disaster in India behind floods.
Even in the current change of the informal sector workers’ place that generated gig workers. Often on sight, some workers keep the wheels of the economy turning in the supply chain of commodities to travel from one point to another that is offering service at the doorstep. Considering all that, informal employees mainly work long hours in the sun.
Natural disasters like landslides and floods are increasing in frequency at the same time across the nation. The list of floods in India over the past ten years includes 15 of the worst floods ever. The 2018 Kerala floods, the 2017 Mumbai floods, the 2017 Gujarat floods, the 2017 West Bengal floods, the 2017 Bihar floods, the 2017 Northeast India floods, the 2016 Brahmaputra floods, the 2015 Chennai floods, the 2015 Gujarat floods, the 2015 Assam floods, and the 2013 North India floods were among them, besides Brahmaputra flooded in 2012, Bihar flooded in 2008, and Bihar flooded in 2007. The geo-climatic conditions in India are very susceptible to floods, according to all current trends. Thus after Bangladesh, India is currently the country with the second-largest flood-affected population worldwide as per the UN report.
India has other significant environmental problems with air pollution, especially in the winter season. Since the tendency to utilize cars for commuting throughout the winter instead of bicycles or public transportation, it is typically associated with an increase in air pollution at this time. This results in more carbon dioxide being released. In addition, stubble burning, firecrackers, and fireplace wood stoves too, people use to heat their houses and emit smoke into the environment.
In 2019, India had 21 of the world’s 30 most polluted cities. At least 140 million people in India breathe air that is 10 times or more above the WHO acceptable limit, according to a study based on data from 2016. As per research, medium-sized informal sectors were associated with greater levels of pollution, whereas small and large informal sectors were associated with lower levels.
The units in the informal sector, which frequently operate in unhygienic conditions, considerably contribute to environmental pollution. The operations of the informal sector seriously harm the environment, as per evidenced by a large body of empirical data. Studies have looked into the tanneries, metalworking, electroplating, textile, auto repair, and brick manufacture as typical informal sectors in India that cause severe contamination.
India is thought to produce 65 million tonnes of garbage annually and has more than 4 million rag-pickers living there. In developing countries, around 1 percent of the urban workforce is engaged in recycling: collecting, recovering, sorting, grading, cleaning, baling, or compacting waste, as well as processing waste into new products. Recycling is one of the cheapest, fastest ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Deforestation is not only limited to meeting environmental concerns but encompasses livelihood issues which in turn will affect the economic and social needs of the country. Although there has been an increase in the total forest cover in India, still there are certain regions within the country that have sought a reduction in the same. The main reasons attributed to this reduction are shifting cultivation, rotational felling, other biotic pressures, diversion of forest lands for developmental activities, etc.
Indian forests are ancient in nature and composition where it faces a severe change in the forest cover during the last five decades, but the last two decades show fluent change, particularly in those regions, where forests have the potential to improve the livelihoods of forest-dwelling people, especially tribal people, who are among the most disadvantaged groups of the informal sector in Indian society. The study showed India obtained forests are not only mere providers of forest products but also offer various services like providing a mechanism of carbon sequestration and evading big disasters by preventing soil erosion, floods, and landslides apart from being home to humans as well as diverse species.
Workers in Displacement
In the context of climate change, the rise of hot waves, floods, landslides, unseasonal rainfalls, pollution, and deforestation all impact workers and laborers, especially informal sector workers. Despite the significance of the workers in the informal sector, relatively little attention has been given to the issues, how climate change is affecting them and how much it affects their livelihoods, health, and well-being due to low income. Even though there are many studies on the impact of the informal economy on environmental quality, which is usually unknown and ignored, the informal sector comprises many activities with a high environmental impact.
As an environmental impact most of the informal employees were displaced, particularly those in the construction, agriculture, salt industry, and street vendor industries. According to research published in the International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction under the title “how flood affects rural employment in India: A gender analysis,” long-term employment in the agricultural sector decreased due to flood and landslide damage. Second, female agricultural employees were more negatively impacted by flood damage than male agrarian workers. Natural disasters also prompted rural male employees to change their occupations and move into the rural non-agricultural sector to find steady employment and more excellent pay.
Desirable Steps
To provide direction in extreme climate change events, several states and towns have developed specific action plans. For example, the government of Odisha has created an app and website to direct employees during the hot season and to provide information on shelters and drinking water sources on highways.
The Bihar Government has altered laborers’ working hours under government programs, shut down markets in the afternoon, and built roofs over markets. Kerala’s government likewise took those actions, while Gujarat has suggested cool roofs as a way to combat heat-generating structures and absorb less solar energy than a traditional roof system.
Taking steps to mitigate the climate crisis may feel impossible. However, thousands of people are now involved in brand-new environmental groups that are becoming more radical and confident. Many workers, both organized and unorganized, have been inspired and enlightened by the urgent need for action to address the climate emergency. To address social, economic, and environmental challenges effectively and adaptively, the ILO suggested nature-based solutions, where actions should be required to protect, conserve, restore, sustainably use, and manage natural or modified terrestrial, freshwater, coastal, and marine ecosystems. This will benefit human well-being, ecosystem services, resilience, and biodiversity. Therefore an urbanization model based on proper regulatory measures must be used to handle climate change instead of piecemeal adaptation and mechanisms. In which the backing of local governments must take precedence over big, apparently transformative planning regimes.
All Comments () +