Not in a mood to deliver

President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso has made a most sensible statement, perhaps, in the controversy about whether the industrialised states, which are largely responsible for causing the global warming, should take the lead in taking steps to reverse the trend or wait for the big emerging economies to join up. Talking of the G-8 summit that was being held at that time on the northernmost Japanese island of Hokkaido, with the threatening climate change as a priority item on the agenda, he said, "We have to get real. It is quite wrong to see this in terms of a confrontation between developed and developing countries. Of course we accept the responsibility but this is a global challenge, which requires a global response."

The ground realities strongly endorse Barroso's view and hold out the warning of greater catastrophes than the earth has of late to contend with, in case the major polluters of the atmosphere continue to put off measures designed to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases till "culprits" own up the blame and start making moves to counter the situation.

Even an apparently insignificant rise in global temperature of less than one degree Centigrade in the past hundred years is making itself felt in the form of more frequent and severer hurricanes, floods, droughts and forest fires. The disturbance of ecological balance has affected the food crops and is partially responsible for the current price hike and shortages. Out of the 20 warmest years in the past hundred years, 19 have occurred since 1980, and three warmest ever during the last eight years.