“We want to alert Kolkatans that our city might disappear if we do not act now. We are the last generation that can do something about global warming,” said Maitree Dasgupta, Greenpeace climate and energy campaigner. Passers-by were made to sign a Greenpeace postcard that will be submitted to the respective MPs, urging them to raise the issue in the parliament.
The signs are part of the Greenpeace campaign launched in coastal cities of Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Kochi and Panaji.
‘Blue Alert Climate Migrants in South Asia: Estimates and Solutions’, a recently released study by an IIT Chennai professor, S Chella Rajan estimated that 125 million people may be displaced in India and Bangladesh by a rise in the sea-level triggered by a projected four-five degrees Celsius increase in global temperature this century. The report said that Bangladesh, Pakistan and India have around 130 million people living in the Low Elevation Coastal Zone who are extremely vulnerable to sea-level rise, coastal erosion and drought. The Blue Alert campaign will culminate in a five-city Blue Solidarity March on April 12.