Hello, and welcome to this latest edition of From a Climate Correspondent, a newsletter exploring the climate crisis around the globe.
We are four environmental journalists who have, for various reasons, found ourselves working in regions outside our home continent.
We will be sharing personal reflections on the fight against climate change, highlighting key science and policy developments, and sharing some of the best local and international environmental journalism from the regions where we live – namely Africa, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and South Asia.
Thanks for reading!
From a Climate Correspondent team - India, Jocelyn, Lou and Mat
Reclaim the desert at your own peril
Letter no. 13 by Lou Del Bello in Rajasthan, India
The view from Jodhpur's fort - Photo by Lou Del Bello
A few weeks ago, while chasing my latest story, I found myself travelling across an ancient desert kingdom, where the sand dunes stretch as far as the eye can see and move slowly with the wind. Here, affluent farmers belonging to the local ruling class, the Rajput, live in imposing family homes with no doors, surrounded by barren fields.
The state of Rajasthan, which translates as ‘land of kings’, harbors one of the most ancient civilisations in India, dating back several thousands of years. Over the centuries, indigenous tribes came and went, at times due to dramatic changes in the local climate. But as I reach Jaisalmer, the ‘golden town’ and the last outpost that I am allowed to enter before the Pakistan border, one thing seems clear to me: the Rajput warriors that took over during the middle ages built their way of life in harmony with the desert.
Upper class homes sprawling around golden forts and village huts alike are designed to keep the heat out. The local economy is traditionally based on what the desert had to offer - camel rearing, mining and, where irrigation is possible, agriculture.
India's Green Revolution
But over chai, the traditional spiced milky tea, a small group of farmers tells me that intensive agriculture started picking up just a few decades ago, propelling a new age of farming in previously arid areas.
Things changed rapidly in the late 80s with the construction of the Indira Gandhi Canal, the longest canal in India spanning 650 km, which reverts water from two main Himalayan rivers towards the Thar desert, in the northwest of Rajasthan.
This visionary idea, which took over 20 years to become reality due to inefficiencies, corruption and just the sheer magnitude of the task, transformed the desert and the lives of its inhabitants, the farmers say. Mostly - but not always - for the better.
The far higher amounts of water brought by the canal kickstarted a ‘green revolution’ in the desert, and now farmers can cultivate a much wider and more lucrative range of crops, including jeera (cumin), mustard, tobacco and cotton.
While farming families previously had diverse sources of income, many now rely entirely on agriculture, also employing seasonal labourers or leasing arable land. But as the project comes up in conversation, I sense that something bothers them. “Our natural environment has changed,” one explains. “Useful plants and insects that were present when the land was arid are not here anymore.”
Instead, with an abundance of crops all year round, pests are starting to attack fields all over the region, and farmers are not well equipped to deal with them. “If our yields go, we are left with nothing,” one of them says.
Botched development and climate change
Some areas now experience high salinity due to the geology of the location where the various channels connected to the main canal were carved out, and villages that had never known mosquitoes are plagued by malaria. The water, pure at the source, becomes polluted as it flows and at times stagnates in the Thar desert, covered in algal blooms toxic for people and animals.
In the ancient desert kingdom, the weather is another concern - years ago sandstorms were a common sight, the farmers tell me. Labourers were hired to sweep the train tracks after the wind left them buried in orange dust. Clearer skies can only be a good thing, I assume - but once again my hosts seem to think otherwise. Instead of dust, the region is seeing more rain, they say, which increases the risk of floods and leads to too much moisture all year around, which alters the biodiversity of the region.
According to the Rajasthan action plan on climate change, the region is likely to see an increase in extreme rains, as well as more extreme temperatures, something that the farmers are already reporting.
Before moving to Delhi, my perception of the climate change story in India was one of natural disasters, of drought and floods. My trip to Rajasthan reminded me how climate change conspires in much subtler and at times counterintuitive ways. Sometimes more water in the desert may not necessarily bring prosperity.
Must reads from the region
Blind Men and The Desert - Arati Kumar-Rao, Peepli The Indian government calls 68% of the Thar desert a "wasteland," and plans to "better utilise" it. Kumar-Rao brings a touching reportage that brings the reader at the wild heart of Rajasthan, learning how attempts to tame the desert have so far backfired.
Rajasthan Is Getting More Rain. That’s Not Good News - Disha Shetty, India Spend From one of India’s top data journalism outlets, read more on the numbers behind this week’s story. Great, accessible explainer.
Climate change now displaces more people than war, and India should be worried - Hridayesh Joshi, Quartz Talking about mass displacement due to climate change seemed unrealistic just a few years ago. Now a growing body of evidence puts a spotlight on the pace of climate change related migration, and how areas such as the Indian subcontinent are still sorely unprepared to deal with it.
A Tiger on my Land - Mayank Aggarwal, Mongabay India A Delhi-based civil servant quits his job, moves to Rajasthan at the edge of the Ranthambore Tiger Reserve and embarks on his own conservation journey, starting from a small patch of land. Two decades later, his humble rewilding project is now a lush green forest patch that is frequented by wild animals, including tigers.
What else I've been reading ...
Why community is our best chance for survival—a lesson post-Hurricane Maria, Christine Nieves, TEDMED Keep a box of tissues at hand as you hear Christina Nieves recounting a tale of hope and courage in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. This story of resilience, she proposes in this TED Talk, can be of inspiration for communities dealing with climate change in every corner of the planet.
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