Is Government Missing in the Green Growth?

Whenever we utter the word ‘Green’, people are smart enough to guess what could it be? Obviously, it would be something related to climate change as it has become a buzz word throughout the world today, thanks to manmade destruction to the planet earth.

Why lot of fuss?

Planet earth is the only place so far in the entire universe that could give shelter to the living organism as it is blessed with land, water, oxygen and vegetation necessary for the human and the organism to survive. Temperature, rainfall and the atmospheric conditions in other planets have not so far given any assurance for the survival of organism. We need microbes, carbon dioxide and the other gases also in equal proportion to achieve a healthy balance among the living organism. Farming, mining, and other human interventions were not successful so far in any other planets.

What is Green growth?

Ever since human intervention started in a large scale on the earth, we are losing natural vegetation, flora and fauna and reminiscences of toxic wastes on the earth, causing enormous damage to the earth, making it a planet deplorable for the human survival. In order to wipe out our sins, nations across the globe are spending a part of their earnings to repair these damages by taking measures to safeguard the earth. Unfortunately, there is no substantial growth in the funding for revamping the greenery on the earth that could absorb gases harmful to the earth.

Countries across the earth are not setting considerable budget to address the climate change issues is major allegation.  Many young researchers are depending on the government grants for their research and there is no considerable growth in it over the decades. For example, USA’s spending on earth & environmental research was at its height during the year 2003, touching $4.73 billion mark. There was a steady decline in government spending ever since that time. The government spending for the year 2015 was $4/8 billion and the figure remained stable for the past two decades reflects the reality.

Private initiatives are on rise in this regard, posing a ray of hope for the many. Columbia University in New York in collaboration with corporate philanthropists could mobilize has invested US$3.1 million to set up a new center to boost climate change research. University of Chicago and the Delhi government have come together to launch a unique programme called “The Urban Labs Innovation Challenge”, addressing air, water and the other challenges of climate change, involving communities as participants.

Although the Public Private Partnership (PPP) is an encouraging sign in this direction, government must remain the major patron of scientific research related to climate change. Corporate spending is a welcoming gesture as they have the social responsibility towards the society. However, the scenario is further grim in the global south related government spending on environment and the global north, which is a giant carbon emitter, has to shoulder this responsibility as well.