Climate Change in India:
Challenges and Solutions.
India
is emerging both as an economic power house and a global environmental leader.
As India’ economy and population gathers pace, the country needs to produce and
provide more and more energy for creating a better living for its people. At
the same time, India has recognised that tackling climate is no less important
for them and hence finds a subtle part in her national interests. The nation is
taking concrete measures to constrain its own emissions and to protect its
people from climatic disruptions. This can be made possible by NRDC’ India
Initiative on Climate Change & Clean Energy. The major missions possible are clustered
around several spheres namely wind energy, human health, coastal resources,
waste to resources etc.
Asia is facing the brunt of climate change and
will be foreseeing severe stress on water resources and food grain production
in the future, which may even lead to an armed conflict among India, Pakistan,
Bangladesh and China, according to a latest report of UN’ Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). “Climate change is already becoming a
determining factor in the national security policies of states”, said a
statement issued by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
which has been striving hard to arrive at a global climate deal by 2015 to
fight the threat effectively through combined efforts of nations. Aromar Revi,
lead author of one of the chapters of this report, said the impact of climate
change would be felt severely on the Indo-Gangetic plains, affecting poor
people in the entire region. “The areas which are facing frequent floods these
days may face drought like situation in the distant or near future. We cannot
ignore the changes which are taking place either in the Indus river basin or
the Brahmaputra river system over the longer period.” said Revi, explaining the
implications of the report. Surender Kumar, another lead author explained how
climate change would affect the developing nations. According to him, if
temperature increased beyond 1 degree Celsius, it would knock 3% of the Gross
Domestic Product (GDP) of developing countries. The report also predicts an
increase in extreme weather events such as the 2013 Uttarakhand flash floods
and the cyclone ‘Phailin’ in Odisha if steps are not taken to curb the
uncontrolled rise in temperature. “Nobody on this planet is going to be
untouched by the impacts of climate change,” R.K Pachauri, IPCC Chairman quoted
while publishing the above mentioned UN’ report in Yokohoma, Japan. The report
says rise in temperatures would also affect ‘beach tourism’ in many countries.
India surprisingly stands out as the most vulnerable among 51 countries where
beach tourism is an important sector.
Variations in climate are not completely concerned with the future. The
report suggested that people around the world are getting hit as it has a
direct negative impact on livelihoods, raises food prices, reduces food
production, destroys homes etc. If climate changes are left unchecked, these
trends are at a risk of acceleration.
The
newly formed ‘Indian’ Government defended its efforts to combat climate change
after US President Barack Obama urged the country to reduce its dependence on
fossil fuels. The Prime Minister Council, which gives direction to climate
policy, was reconstituted by the new ‘Indian’ Government in the first week of
November 2014. The previous council, during UPA government’ time, had not met
for more than three years. Apart from launching the new missions, the Council
also undertakes to review the performance and operation of the existing eight
missions, many of which have remained mostly ineffective. Environment Minister
of India, Prakash Javadekar insisted that the government was already changing
words into action on clean energy with innovative efforts such as increasing
solar power across the nation. But our Prime Minister, Narendra Modi has said
that India wasn’t under any pressure of climate changes – after China and USA
announced a bilateral pact on capping emissions in November. India’ population
is set to overtake the population of China by 2030, but still she relies hugely
on coal to generate electricity. Since coming to power in May, 2014, Modi has
pledged to increase India’s renewable energy in a bid to lower coal use and
bring electricity to more than 300 million poor people who currently live
without even having this basic amenity. Modi, who built up a solar industry in
Gujarat when he was the Chief Minister, has set a target for India to have 100
gigawatts of solar capacity by 2022.
Twelfth Five-Year Plan and Climate Change
The Indian Government has a domestic goal of lessening
emissions by 20-25% by 2020 in comparison with the emission level of 2005. The
energy intensity of India’s output has
shown a declining trend due to improvement in energy efficiency, changes in
technology and economical use of energy. This goal and the objectives of the
National Action Plan on Climate Change are claimed to be achieved through a
sustainable development strategy under the twelfth five year plan. At the
initiative of the UPA Ministry, Planning Commission has recognised Climate
Change as a major sphere of environmental intervention. Climate Change Action Programme (CCAP) – a
new thematic scheme has been approved by the Planning Commission for
implementation during the Twelfth Five year Plan. The scheme comprises of eight
activities, of which, three relate to scientific studies on Climate Change, two
to institution and capacity building and three others to domestic and
international actions.
During 2012-15, India organised several parallel
international initiatives on Climate Change. Among this the most notable one
was the Xth BASIC Ministerial Meeting on Climate Change in New Delhi
on February, 2012. This was to facilitate exchange of views on outcomes of the
Durban Conference and evolution of common BASIC position on key issues in
Climate Change. Besides the basic countries comprising of Brazil, South Africa,
India and China, representatives of Swaziland, Singapore and Qatar were also
invited to the meeting. At the
sub-regional level, India joined hands with Bhutan, Bangladesh and Nepal for
cooperation to address adverse effects of Climate Change through adaptation
actions in the four thematic areas of food, water, energy and biodiversity.
Renewable Energy Procurement Obligation (RPO) has been the major driving force
in India to promote the renewable energy sector.
Indian Network for
Climate Change Assessment (INCCA)
The
Indian Government has already set up a network, namely the Indian Network for
Climate Change Assessment (INCCA) comprising of more than 250 scientists from
125 research institutions, to undertake research on the science of Climate
Change and its impact on various sectors of our economy across various regions
of India. INCCA assists the Ministry in putting together its Green House Gas
(GHG) Emissions Inventories and in carrying out other scientific assessments at
regular intervals. Former Indian Environment Minister, Sri Jairam Remesh played
a significant part in setting up this venture.
Parliamentary Forum on
Global Warming and Climate Change.
The Parliamentary Forum on Global Warming and Climate
Change was constituted by the Hon’ble
Speaker, Lok Sabha, in consultation with the Hon’ble Chairman, Rajya Sabha on
July 14, 2008. Since then, the forum has been involving parliamentarians to
interact with experts working on Global Warming and Climate Change. Sri Girish Sant, co-founder of Prayas, Pune
and Coordinator of the Energy group along with the representatives of the
Ministry of Environment and Forests and the Ministry of Science and Technology
had been invited for giving a presentation on “The Road Map for 20-25%
reduction in the emission intensity of Indian GDP by the year 2020 as
communicated by the Government of India to the UNFCCC”. Talking about the
specific plans of the Government in regard to Climate Change, Sri Sant apprised
that Government was doing two major things, one the NAPCC and second, the low
carbon strategy for inclusive growth. The members of the Forum have been taking
a lot of interest in the meetings by participating in the discussions. Presentations on various subjects relating to
Climate Change, such as: Impact of Climate Change on Agriculture; Population,
Resources and Biodiversity with reference to Climate Change; Technology and
Climate Change; National Solar Mission and related initiatives under the
National Action Plan on Climate Change, National Mission on Sustainable
Habitat, etc have taken place. These give insight into a wide perspective on
the issue of Climate Change and mitigation methods.
The world is gearing up for the UNFCC’ Conference of
Parties (COP-21) or the 2015 Paris Climate Summit to be held later this year,
where almost 195 countries are expected to participate. A key player, Laurence
Tubiana, the French Ambassador for Climate Change Negotiations, spoke to
Pallava Bagla on India’ role and expectations at the upcoming Paris Summit,
explaining that a debate on sustainable consumption should become the keystone. India’ per capita emission
is comparatively lower than that of the Western Countries like America and
France. So, before dealing with climate change straight away, Indians should
cultivate a life style that is compatible with nature and that will help India
to reduce her climatic vulnerabilities in future.
