By Patricia Mukhim
There are many who ask what does India stand to gain from heading the G20 Presidency? Well, for one, the members of the G20 have in this period travelled the length and breadth of India and know this country better than at any other time in the past. It is true that not all the delegates visited the same states but nevertheless more people in the world today know about Meghalaya more than at any time in the past. In their visits to places beyond Shillong, foreign and Indian delegates will witness the clouds coming home to roost and carry those memories. However, they will also observe the flip sides such as our lack of capacity for managing waste at tourist destinations, although I am quite sure that the sites which the delegates will be visiting will be cleaned up before they land there. And that is perhaps one reason why we don’t find solutions to our problems. We hide our flaws instead of calling for help. When the Global Gateway team of the European Union was here they had stated that they have expertise in waste management. We need to tap on that expertise and be upfront about our problems and challenges. Let’s cry out for help and learn from countries that have solved the intractable problem of garbage. Let’s not pretend that everything is alright with our world.
For Meghalaya today the most defiant problem is garbage – which constitutes disposable plastic bags, plastic packets, aluminium laced packages used by companies selling potato chips and a host of junk food. There are people who dispose of even electronic waste like mobile chargers etc., along with their garbage. Here we need to understand that non-biodegradable garbage is a modern problem. Hence it will need modern solutions. Traditional knowledge systems have nothing to offer in terms of solving our modern-day garbage problems. In the past we did not use plastic carry bags and had very few plastic utensils. We did not have the concept of bottled drinking water. Now plastic water bottles are ubiquitous in hotels and restaurants because we have more faith in bottled water than in filtered water served by hotels/restaurants. Only a few hotels and restaurants in Shillong have kept bottled water out of bounds. It is impossible to gauge the quantum of garbage generated by all of Shillong on a single day which is dumped at Marten – a landfill that is long past its date. That we have not been able to get land for an alternative landfill at Shillong, Jowai, Nongpoh and other district headquarters is our Achilles heel. And why? Because land ostensibly belongs to the people. In so many years governments have not bothered to think creatively and tell each Dorbar Shnong to manage its own garbage as is being done in other cities. Why should there be only one landfill for a population of approximately 5 lakh people (I suspect it could be more if one takes the floating population)?
In the past we generated garbage from the kitchen which we buried in holes dug in our backyards. That organic waste turned to manure. We burnt the rest of the garbage which was essentially paper. It is unfortunate that in places beyond Shillong such as Smit, Nongkrem and across the state; in villages beyond the municipalities, people dig holes and bury plastic garbage inside. The consequences of such actions are far reaching because the soil dies when it is choked and can no longer breathe. But for most people today the natural dumping ground for their garbage are the rivers and streams flowing through Shillong city. Even in villages, rivers have become the natural destination for dumping garbage. The most horrific onslaught on the rivers is that menstrual pads/sanitary napkins used by women and Huggies (baby nappies) with excreta are also thrown in rivers. This has been documented by those doing a garbage audit while cleaning rivers. Hence if there is one thing that Meghalaya can get out of the G20 Presidency is to do a long-term consultation with countries that have managed to solve their garbage problems.
Let me now come to the gist of Day One of the 2-day G20 conference held at the Courtyard by Marriot on July 6-7. Samir Saran, President Observer Research Foundation (ORF) which is the team coordinating the entire G20 programme, set the theme for the day by raving about Meghalaya’s hills and dales, rivers and waterfalls and of course the ubiquitous clouds. But he also said that a colleague of his who is from Meghalaya had told him that if there is ever any need to look for any solution (I presume environmental/climate solutions) to any problem then Meghalaya is the place to turn to. Really? And how does Meghalaya qualify to be that solution offering space? Of course Mr Saran had to be kind to the host state but it’s a little over the top to suggest that Meghalaya has solutions to the problems of the country. We are groping for answers on how to manage our garbage; to revive our drying springs and to regenerate our highly polluted rivers.
Sadly the G20 team will not be taken to East Jaintia Hills to witness the devastating effects of coal mining and the poisoning of at least two rivers the Lunar and Lukha rivers there. Or a visit to Shella to see how limestone is mined in the most unsustainable way. That is the disadvantage of being part of a government entourage – you cannot get to see the problem! You will only be given a taste of the carefully curated sights and sounds.
Of the many speeches in the course of the day, I felt that Chief Secretary, DP Wahlang was the most grounded and a locally relevant example of climate change. He said 35 years ago no one knew what a refrigerator was in Meghalaya. Now that has become an indispensable part of every home to keep food fresh because temperatures are rising. Not only that. Now offices have fans and fancy air conditioners too. Wahlang also raised an important point. He said places in the Meghalayan slopes that used to produce oranges aplenty now have to buy oranges. On many occasions when one has visited those orange growing regions one noticed that the earth around the trees was dry and denuded. When I asked the farmers if they ever added manure or any kind of organic fertiliser to the trees after the fruits were harvested, they replied in the negative. Without caring for the fruit trees how do farmers expect to reap a continued harvest? But isn’t this what the Horticulture Department is for? Also, the orange trees have since several years been infected by an ailment following which they die a natural death. Again, one wonders what the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) is doing on this front.
Chief Minister Conrad Sangma said solar energy is the way forward because thermal energy leaves indelible carbon footprints. He said someone in Delhi recently told him that the Arctic would melt by 2040. What was jarring about the Chief Minister’s speech is his defence of coal mining followed by an assumptive statement that ‘lakhs and lakhs’ of people are affected by the ban on coal mining. Sorry. We need a reality check here. The ban on coal mining has only hit those with deep pockets and they are in the ministry. No one has died of starvation after the ban on coal mining. So what’s the way forward? Don’t we all have to practise what we preach at these elevated platforms?
I was impressed by one speaker – Olga Chelianskaia – in the panel on Scaling Nature-Based Solutions For Synergising Biodiversity and Climate Action. Chelianskaia is Founding Director and & Principal Consultant, UNICITI, France. She touched on an important subject that needs to be seriously considered which is the need to support cities and regions in climate change adaptation and mitigation with locally relevant solutions. Engineering solutions are capital sinks and cannot override nature-based solutions. However, citizens must raise their voices to demand traffic decongestion and to be safer on the streets. Also cities must decongest by creating other hubs and parks and avoid over-concentration in a single city centre for instance.
Also important was the presentation by Smita Bhatnagar of SEWA who spoke of how village women were given alternatives to firewood by way of bio-gas which is provided by two cows for each household. In Meghalaya in the winter months, villagers have a community tree cutting programme where firewood for the entire year is cut and stored at every household. Think of the number of trees that are cut for firewood. Do we in Meghalaya have an alternative to this? It’s a question we have to brainstorm on and perhaps get ideas from other states and developing countries. All in all quite a lot of learning for one day!
