Prospecting the Future: Meeting the Challenges Posed by Climate Change

The world population is increasing at the rate of 10,000 per hour and by 31st of October, 2011 the sevenbillionth person will be born marking an extraordinary milestone in the history of the planet. The United Nation has predicted that by 2050 the population of this planet will be 9.3 billion. For a planet which is already strapped for resources, as Roger Martin the chair of the NGO ?population Matters ?wrote in the Guardian, the birth of the 7 billionth person is ?a sobering reminder of the planet?s predicament?. Echoing the same sentiment the TIME magazine has now come out with an article which states that ?the real victim of the over population will be the environment?. All this boils down to the simple fact that the physical resource of the planet is ?finite?. In the ?Limits to Growth? Meadows et al had precisely underscored this finite nature of the Earth .They had also warned the world that we are about to reach an ?overshoot and collapse scenario?. The figures in respect of the components of ambient concentration of green house gas as they existed before 1750 and during 2006 serves to compare and contrast not only the warming effect of CO2 but also the health hazards posed by particulate matter. As per the estimate of World Health Organization 800,000 people fall prey to premature death [1] due to the intake of polluted air containing, Particulate Matter of the size of 21 to 70 microgram per cubic meter..The abysmal air quality of the Indian cities is symptomatic of the environmental degradation, requiring corrective action by policy decisions at the level of the Govt. World Bank has characterized India?s pollution induced warming as both ?growth related? and ?poverty related?. The impacts of climate are invasive. It is not merely confined to extended dry periods, increased frequency of heavy precipitation, or microbial population of the macro-environment. The specter of toxic Algae blooms ,and zoonotic diseases are in sight. Add to this worry of the toxic algal- blooms accumulated in the filter-feeder-bivalves, getting transferred to human beings. The review underpins that there is a need for putting in yeoman?s effort based on ?One health? concept which stands for the health of humans, animals and the environment, because there is only ?one health? in our entire ecosystem