Speaking on the occasion, former advisor to Planning Commission of India on environment and forest Shekhar Singh said, “Agriculture dependent regions, besides coastal areas, are going to be worst hit owing to global warming and climate changes.”

Talking to Newsline on the sidelines of the seminar, Singh underlined the significance of the seminar for agriculture-dependent Punjab and Haryana.

“Punjab’s economy is agriculture dependent; even industries require raw materials. Even a slight rise in global temperature will adversely affect the snow-fed rivers of the state resulting in fall in agricultural production by 15-20 per cent.

He said, “A debate among the intelligentsia who are themselves not updated on the issue will begin and the ideas will ultimately percolate to the masses.” He pointed out that the Central government has also not accorded much importance to the issue of global warming. “I was in the Planning Commission in 1982 when not much discussion happened on environmental issues. The government’s viewpoint continues to be the same even now,” he said.

He further demanded to include environmental issues in every election. He said student organisations must take up environmental issues to put pressure on the government.

Prof Arun D Aluhwalia, Department of Geology, Panjab University, said global warming is not man created phenomenon. “Man is just contributing to its acceleration,” he said.

He further added that global warming has resulted in melting of glaciers that cause flash floods, as in Himachal Pradesh.  

He also dismissed the idea that common people have not understood the implications of global warming. “I talked to people in Maloya village and they were interested to listen about it; merely talking to few groups won’t help, the message must reach the masses,” he said.