Climate talks
more than one-fifth of the total districts in India, are susceptible to the impact of climate change, according to an annual review by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), a wing of the agriculture ministry. The effects of climate change on India’s agriculture, which employs half the population and accounts for 17% of the country’s economic output, are no longer about distant projections. The latest research, cited by the ICAR study, shows the impact of climate change will be increasingly felt , as demonstrated by extreme weather events — and manifest itself in economic, political, even social consequences.
The consequences of a 1.5-degree rise include extreme temperature in many regions, increase in frequency or amount of heavy precipitation in some areas and droughts in others. If the increase reaches 2 degrees, the impacts can be too serious for communities to adapt to.
Joyashri Roy, professor of economics at Jadavpur University (on lien) and one of the Indian authors of the IPCC 1.5-degree report, said: “Since India has a very large population, the scale of climate impacts in India in absolute numbers will be very high, the human impact of climate change will be very prominent in India.”
Roy, who will be in Katowice for the discussions, added: “This COP is crucial. The IPCC will make presentations on regional impacts of climate change, the sustainable development goals, and the science of climate change.”
India’s 17-member delegation to COP 24 is being led by Union environment minister Harsh Vardhan. According to a statement issued by the environment ministry, a priority for India at COP 24 is to finalise the Paris Agreement Work Programme (PAWP), or the rulebook for implementation of Paris Agreement, which aims to keep the global temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius. “India would like to ensure that Common But Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities (CBDR-RC), in the light of different national circumstances, are operationalised in all elements of the PAWP. The outcome of the PAWP should support the enhancement of ambition without backsliding,” a statement by the environment ministry said on Saturday.
CBDR-RC is a principle of international environmental law that establishes that all states are responsible for addressing global environmental destruction, yet not equally responsible because of the wide differences in levels of economic development between states. India held two meetings in November with the like-minded developing countries (LMDCs) — a group that includes China, Venezuela and Iran, among others — and BASIC countries — Brazil, South Africa, India and China — on drafting the Paris rulebook.
The BASIC countries also held a press conference in Delhi in November in which environment secretary CK Mishra said the BASIC group wants to make technology transfer and climate funding from the developed countries a big issue at COP 24 “so that we don’t have a situation where they don’t deliver”.
In terms of historical emissions, the US is the largest polluter and environmental scientists want it to take moral responsibility for that. Developing countries expect it to transfer technology and funds to them to help them adapt to climate change. This will not happen if the US pulls out of the Paris Agreement. Also, it will keep adding to global emissions with its carbon-intensive growth.
“It has been three long years and COP is not ready with the rules for implementation of the Paris Agreement. Hopefully, we can have an agreement on formulation of rules in the next two weeks. India must also be ready by 2020 to do intensive monitoring and reporting required under the Paris Agreement,” said professor NH Ravindranath, a climate scientist from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, who is also heading to Katowice.
India says it is on track to meet the Paris commitments. “India made a voluntary pledge in 2009 to reduce the emission intensity