Population control key factor in checking global warming: experts

Panaji, Sep 5 (UNI) Dr R K Suri, additional director, union ministry of Environment and Forests. India today stressed the need for intensifying strategies to check population explosion, which is the single biggtest factor contributing to the global warming.

Addressing the inaugural session of the three-day 9th annual conference on ''Climate Change Issues and Concerns'' organised here under the aegis of the Delhi-based Greentech Foundation, Dr Suri said the world population was expected to touch 10 billion by the year 2050 as against six billion in 2005.

''This will be catastrophic for future generations if we do not arrest the trend. If we act now, it will at lest minimise the global warming process,'' he said.

Goa Pollution Control Board Chairman Dr L U Joshi warned that global warming, if neglected, would melt the ice sheets of the Arctic and Antarctic, causing disaster. The environmentalists had already feared rise of temperature by 4.5 degrees celsius by the year 2100.

The foundation president Mr Kamaleshwar Sharan said costal lands of India would be submerged if temperature raises by two degrees celsius as a result of global warming.

''The economic loss would be colossal if urban areas such as Mumbai, Goa and Chennai are affected as a result of sea level rise due to global warming,'' he told the participants.

Reiterating the need for signing of the Kyoto Protocol by all the nations, he said, ''The blunt truth about politics of climate change is that no country wants to sacrifice its economy to meet this challenge.'' Some of the topics discussed during the meet include ''Global Climate Change the Technology Challenge'', and ''Energy Availability and Alternatives for Global Climate Stability''.

Mr Frank Princiotta, Director, Air Pollution Prevention&Control Division, National Risk Management Research Laboratory, U S Environmental Protection Agency, USA, said the sum of GDP growth per capita, population growth, crbonintensify growth per unit of energy and the growth of energy usage per unit of GDP approximates the annual carbon dioxide growth rate in the world.

Organized by Greentech Foundation, a Delhi based organisation established to promote education, training, research and dissemination of knowledge, advancing the scientific, technical and practical aspects of environment management, the three day meet is attended by over 400 corporate houses, Public Sector Undertakings, Government bodies, NGOs and others.

They include BPCL, HPCL, IOCL, NTPC, Aditya Birla Group of Industries, NMDC, ITC Group Companies, ONGC, Tata Power, Tata Sponge Iron, Reliance Energy Ltd, Reliance Industries Ltd, Hindalco, Tata Motors and others.

Chief Minister Digambar Kamat and Lok Sabha member Shripad Y Naik, will give away the awards to companies for their contribution towards environment protection and clean environment in the conference.

Some of the eminent speakers, apart from Mr Frank Princiotta, included Dr Alexander P Mathews, Prof Environment Engg, Kansas State University, Manhattan, USA; Dr Foo Say Moo, Head (Group Sustainable Development), Petroleum Nasional, Kualalumpur, Malaysia; Dr L U Joshi, Chairman, Goa State Pollution Control Board; Mr D C Tripathi, Chief (Geology), NHPC Ltd, Chamba and others.

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