Climate Change Mitigation Strategies: UNFCCC and India

humour sort moderation Strategies UNFCCC and IndiaFrom UNFCCC Goals to IndiaAbstractClimate reassign has the authorisation to alter the ability of the earths physical and biological placements to provide goods and services meaty for sustainable development. Recognition of Climate Change as a pregnant knowledge do main(prenominal) environmental ch congerieslyenge has a recent origin. Inter farmingal efforts to destination the clime alteration formally began altogether a decade ago with the adoption of United Nations Framework regulation to Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 1992.India is a collapsey to UNFCCC and the government of India attaches smashing immensity to humor reposition issue.India is a vast state covering 3.28 billion Km2 with confused(a) bulge traces and encourages 16.2 pct of the global kind population. Endowed with varied soils, mode, biodiversity and ecological regimes, chthonic diverse indispensable conditions and over a billion people di squisition antithetical languages, fol firsting different religions and living in rural and urban areas, India is an fount for a complex yet thriving democratic system. de primevalisation of powers through local anesthetic government, to benefit the grass root t rain is some other signifi backt feature of Indian Government. The 73rd and 74th Amendment Acts, 1992, of the Constitution of India own endowed vast powers to local governments at rural and urban shows respectively. Indias commitments to mitigate mood variegate are reflected in the essence of these two acts and the working and powers induen to the local government.This paper explains and brings to picture how climate form easing strategies are filtered in Indian System right from the UNFCCC goals to The Government of India and further to smaller levels of local governments. The paper get out explain the hierarchy and working of Indian presidency system and heightslights the climate careen initiatives at heart this system. The paper pass on alike analyze the constraints and gaps in the institutional setup at local level, which, if rectified, would give more successful results in Climate Change Mitigation thrill of the Government of India.IntroductionOver a decade ago intimately countries joined an world- broad treaty- The United Nations Convention on Climate Change so as to consider the impacts of climate change and to work for adaptation and mitigation initiatives for secure approaching and sustainable development. The assembly, commonly known as the UNFCCC entered into force on 21 March 1994. The ultimate objective of The convention is stabilizing green house muck up pedal sparks at a visit level that would prevent mordacious anthropogenic interference with the climate systems. on a lower floor the convention the governments-Gather and share knowledge on babys room gas releases, subject policies and best practicesLaunch national strategies for make outing greenho use gas emissions and adapting to anticipate impacts, including the provision of financial and technological support to ontogeny countries.Co ferment in preparing the adaptation to the impacts of climate change.In 1997, the Kyoto protocol came into be, which shared the conventions objectives, principles and institutions and also signifi dis even outtly strengthened the convention by committing the parties to individual and specially legally covering fire gets to limit or reduce climate change. The text of the Kyoto communications protocol was adoptive unanimously in 1997 and it entered into force on 16 February 2005.India is signatory to various(a) multilateral environmental agreements, including The Montreal Protocol, The convention on Biological diversity, the United nations Convention to combat desertification ,including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) .Government of India attaches great importance to climate change issues. Eradication o f poverty, avoiding risks to food production, and sustainable development are trio principles embedded in the Convention. At infix, information provided in the Indias Initial theme Communication to the UNFCCC is in terms of guidelines convinced(p) for Parties non allowd in Annex I to the UNFCCC and the inventory is alert for the base year 1994.India is a vast country. It covers 3.28 trillion km2 of area having diverse surface features. Also, it occupies only 2.4 percent of the worlds geographical area, only supports 16.2 per cent of the global human population. The country is endowed with varied soils, climate, biodiversity and ecological regimes. Under lots(prenominal) diverse natural conditions, over a billion people language different languages, following different religions and living in rural and urban areas, live in harmony on a lower floor a democratic system( India NATCOM,2004).Climate Change NegotiationsGlobal warming issue became a part of the international agen da in 1988. The climate issue, initiated by the small island nation Malta, came up at the UN General Assembly in December 1988, as part of a discussion on the common heritage of mankind. The issue set up a preparatory committee to work towards an international agreement. The concern for global warming particularly by the industrialized countries gear up since then and climate politics came into being and were refined with a series of international conferences and formal negotiations that followed. The momentum culminated in the signing of a Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC) and opened for signatures at the Rio Earth Summit in June, 1992. The FCCC aims at stabilization of greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations, in the air at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. Subsequently, the parties to the FCCC adoptive the Kyoto Protocol in December, 1997. However, the develop nations see the Protocol as burdened with loopholes bec ause of the fact that it emphasizes on the scotch concerns, rather than ecological or social justice. The main area of contravention amid the substantial countries and the developing countries lies in the arenas pertaining to equity and sustainability. However, the operational details of the Kyoto Protocol guard now been finalised after intensifier deliberations at Marrakech, on November 10, 2001, which was participated by 171 countries .The protocol has been guided by Article 3.0 of the FCCC, and marks the startle global attempt to place legally binding limits on greenhouse gas emissions from veritable countries. The Protocol calls for 5.2% reduction from their 1990 level of GHG emissions by the developed countries during the period 2008-2012. It also specifies the amount each country must afford toward merging the reduction goal. Nations with the highest CO2 emissions like the United States, Japan and intimately European nations are expected to reduce emissions by a roam of 6 to 8 per cent. By 2005, all industrialized nations that ratify the concord must also show demonstrable progress toward fulfilling their respective commitments on a lower floor the Protocol.Some issues that add to the complexity of the Kyoto ProtocolConsiderations for baseline and its effects The target of 5.2% reduction beyond 1990 level in the commitment period 2008-2012, were mutually beneficial on 1990 emissions. This meant that if a country which had high emissions in 1990 and had reduced them among 1990 and thereafter, then it could actually accession its emission once again, or only stabilize these, and not carry out whatsoever reductions.As an example one tail end analyse the case of Australia. In 1990, as much as 30 percent of the emissions were from deforestation, which eventually became a blessing for the country for, instead of penalizing for creating the problem in the first place, Australia has been able to use its emission to its advantage, by winnin g the right to count each improvement from its 1990 level as its national credit. And as its deforestation rate has been controlled, it actually domiciliate increase its emission above and beyond the figure of 8 percent it is expected to reduce. On the other hand, USA and Japan were lobbying hard to change the date of baseline from 1990 to 1995. The reason for this lies in the fact that both the countries own made a significant increase in century emissions between 1990 and 1995.Flexible implements The Kyoto Protocol includes three appliances Art.6 (Joint Implementation),Art.12 ( despoil knowledge appliance) andArt.17 (Emissions Trading),These mechanisms are meant to pave an intelligible way for developed countries to meet their Kyoto targets easily. The cheapest and the around attractive option for meeting the emission targets of the North (i.e developed countries-Annexe I) being the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) that will be operated on the project basis invested in the randomness (i.e under developed countries). This implies that, as global warming is bound to be unsolved even by the end of this century, the South would construct to soften a heavy p sift in future once they have reached a high level of slide fastener faculty through direction like CDM. For by then the cost of carbon cutting will be genuinely high even for the developing countries, which would eventually have to do the carbon cutting on their own. The next issue comes on the question of vigour- stinting applied science, which the North wishes to push to the South through CDM. As technology up-gradation is a continuous process, hence what is the most efficient technology at the succession of implementation of the CDM project, may be obsolete at heart fewer years that follows.Principle of equity the Kyoto Protocol does not define the rights and responsibilities of all nations within a reasonable frame. So long as the world remains within a carbon ground muscle econ omy, straightforward sharing of the atmosphere shall remain a critical issue, especially for misfortunate developing countries who need a maximum space for their future stinting growth.The Kyoto reduction, by itself, is inadequate to achieve a stabilization of climate change by 2100. A continual and bigr reduction, similar to that stipulated in the Kyoto Protocol for the 2008-2012 period, will be needed in the future in frame to begin to stabilize long-term greenhouse gas emissions. Even if stabilization of greenhouse gases is achieved, global warming will still continue for some(prenominal) decades and sea levels will continue to testify for several centuries. This is because Even if the emissions from the developed countries were reduced to zero in the near future, the current trends of growing emissions from developing countries alone could force the atmospheric concentration to exceed stabilization levels of 550 ppm( Parivesh, CPCB,2006). Thus, involvement of all countrie s, including the developing countries such as India, is essential for a successful worldwide effort to arrest the growth of greenhouse gas emissions.India and Climate Change- The Threats and VulnerabilityClimate Change is a major global environmental problem and an chief(prenominal) issue because of diverse impacts not only ecological, but scotch, social, political and physical in nature and content. It is a matter of great concern especially for developing countries like India who have limited mental object to develop and adopt strategies to reduce their vulnerability to changes in climate. Global, national and local level measures are need of the hour to combat the adverse impacts of climate change induced damages.India being a developing country has low capacity to withstand the adverse impacts of climate change due to high dependence of majority of population on climate sensitive arenas as the agriculture, forestry and fisheries,( Shukla, et.al, 2003). This is coupled with poor infrastructure facilities, weak institutional mechanisms and wish of financial resources. This is the reason why we are seriously concerned with the possible impacts of climate change. The possible impacts of climate change are mentioned belowWater filtrate and reduction in the availability of fresh water due to potential decline in pelting.Threats to agriculture and food security, since agriculture is monsoon dependent and rain dependent agriculture dominates in more states.Shifts in area and landmark of different forest types and threats to biodiversity with adverse implications for forest-dependent communities.Adverse impact on natural ecosystems, such as wetlands, mangroves, grasslands and mountain ecosystems.Adverse impact of sea-level rise on coastal agriculture and settlements.Impact on human wellness due to the increase in vector and water-borne diseases, such as malaria. change magnitude energy requirements and impact on climate-sensitive industry and infrastruc ture.One of the various reasons for vulnerability of India depends on its typical and diverse climatic conditions. India is subject to a wide range of variation in climatic conditions from the freezing Himalayan winters in the north to the tropical climate of the southern peninsula, from the damp, rainy climate in the north-east to the arid Great Indian Desert in the north-west, and from the shipboard soldier climates of its vast coastline and islands to the dry continental climate in the interior. The Indian spend monsoon is the most important feature in dictating meteorology of the Indian subcontinent and, hence, its economy. roughly all regions of the country receive entire annual rainfall during the summer monsoon (also called the SW monsoon), while some parts of the south-eastern states also receive rainfall during early winter from the north-east monsoon. Therefore, India could be more at risks than many other countries from changes in temperature and sea level.Models predi ct an average increase in temperature in India from 2.3 to 4.8 C for the bench mark doubling of carbon dioxide scenario (Lonergan, humanness Bank Technical Paper No.402, 1998). Temperatures would rise more in northern India than in Southern India. In the North Indian Ocean, under a doubling, the average number of tropical disturbance days could increase from 17 to 29 a year (Haarsma et.al Climate Dynamics, Vol.8, 1993) while, without protection, approximately 7 million people would be displaced, and 5,760 Km2 of land and 4,200 Km of road would be illogical (Asthana, JNU, New Delhi, 1993). Further, in the Indian context, climate change could represent an excess stress on the ecological and socioeconomic system that are already facing tremendous pressure due to rapid urbanization, industrialization and economic development.Options for MitigationThe ability to adapt to climate change depends on the level of income and technology, as well as the capacity of the system of political s cience and vivacious institutions to cope with change. The ability to mitigate GHG emissions depends on industrial structure (the jumble of industrial activities), social structure (including, e.g., the distance people must exit to work or to engage in recreational activities), the nature of constitution (especially the effectiveness of government policy), and the availability and cost of alternatives. In short, what is feasible at the national level depends significantly on what can be make at the subnational, local, and various sectoral levels(Climate Change 2001 Working group III Mitigation IPCC,2001).The challenges of climate change mitigation involve diverse issues economic, political, social and environmental. brass is one of the prime issues in mitigation of climate change impacts. A structured administration system is the only tool through which any policy framework or initiative can be achieved. The importance or percentage of governance in mitigation thus can be d escribed through its three pillarsOrganizational Structure- Through governance the qualities of organization participation, transparency and accountability can be achieved in the mitigation exercise at all levels..Financial Mobilization- This involves ensuring financial commitment globally, at national levels and also at local levels of the governmentLegal Framework- It ensures empowerment, enforcement and conformance of mitigative strategies and supporting environmental laws.As the depicted object GHG inventory for India shows, the major increase in GHG emissions over the next 20 years would be related to energy consumption. As India has abundant coal deposits, it is beyond motion that coal will be the dominant source of energy. Therefore, energy efficiency measures in this sector remain our prime concern. Power generation in India is expected to reach a peak demand of 176 GW by 2012, and the total energy requirement will be 1058 billion units (Parivesh, Central contamination surmount Board, 2006).This is why increasing the use of re impertinentlyable energy and energy efficiency in the form of low carbon options are the two main measures that can greatly reduce GHG emissions. We will now concurrently specify what scientific mitigation tools for climate change are in stock(predicate) for various sectors and the corresponding governance measures to actually target the process of mitigation.The energy sectorFiscal incentives and taxes, voluntary emission reductions, green rating, and capacity construct etc. Another area of importance is the transmission and dissemination losses, which is energy loss.There is considerable scope of reducing losses, meant to translate into a gigantic mitigation potential.Two major categories of Barriers hinder adoption of electricity conservation and demand care in India.a) Macro-level barrier At the level of governance system either policy induced or due to lose ofappropriate policies andb) Micro-level barriers rel ated to the consumers and the economic environment they face.Thiscan be equated to inadequacy of awareness well-nigh possible alternatives on thepart of the consumers and lack of awareness drives on the part of thegovernment.The forestry sectorIPCC Second Assessment Report categorizes three broad options for abatement viz.Conservation management This system attempts to economize the existing carbon storage capacity of forests by halting or slowing down forests deforestation and forests degradation.Storage management This strategy attempts to increase carbon strategy in woody vegetation and soil in existing degraded forests, as well as to create new carbon immerses in areas where forests do not exists or have been cleared. These may be achieved by promoting natural regeneration, re-afforestation on deforested lands, aforrestation of non-forest lands and agro-forestry on do work and pastureland.Substitution management This strategy attempts involves the replacement of fossil f uels by renewable fuel wood or other biomass products.Here, governance plays an important role based on it a capacity to generate and bring about changes in the management of forests and augmentation of use of renewable products.The agriculture sectorMethane emissions from rice cultivation remain the major contributor of GHG emissions. Other sources being enteric fermentation, manure management, agricultural soils etc. Abatement strategy in this sector in India can be achieved given the scientific expertise easy in India, but require gearing up by strait-laced governmental intervention at the level of ministry of agriculture, as far as policy initiatives are concern, and through local governments for implementation and monitoring.The industrial sectorAs the national inventory of GHG shows, major contribution came from energy intensive sectors like iron steel, fertilizer, cement, aluminium, paper pulp etc. A few option available for energy efficient options in power, industrial a nd internal sector are given as followsSource Teri, New Delhi.These can be supported by further subsidizing use of energy efficient options and where required made mandatory by the government under the outer boundary of the existing environmental laws of the country.Mitigation through sinks one C dioxide is removed from the atmosphere by a number of processes that operate on different time scales, and is subsequently transportred to reservoirs or sinks. The Kyoto Protocol through its Ariticle 3.3 allows afforestation as a sink to reduce carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. Further, Article 3.4 of the Kyoto Protocol states that additional human induced activities in the agricultural soils and LULUCF categories may be added to the three mechanisms (Joint implementation, Clean Development mechanism and Emission trading) subject to certain conditions.In India, forestry is predominate by government based institutions. These institutions need new insight so that they can effectivel y incorporate mitigation policies and measures in their resource management activities. According to the central Pollution Control Board, India has been persistently implementing one of the largest reforestation programs in the tropics with over one million hectares planted annually. close to half of this reforestation is on degraded forests and village common land. It is estimated that the carbon uptake in forests, degraded forests, and plantations is estimated to offset the gross carbon emissions from the forests sector. Carbon dioxide emissions in India are projected to increase from no-net emissions in 1990 to 77 million tonnes by 2020( Parivesh, CPCB,2006).Barriers to mitigationGreenhouse gas mitigation measures are intensify by several barriers inherent to the process of development. In India, inequitable distribution of income and wealth forms a core feature of barriers to effective implementation of any type of intervention in India, leave apart climate change. getable ins truments to limit domestic GHG emissions can be categorized into merchandise based instruments, regulatory instruments, and voluntary agreements. For the developing countries, however, domestic structural reforms and policies on mickle liberalization and liberalization of energy markets act as barriers to GHG reduction. These policies coupled with macro instructioneconomics, market oriented reforms, set the framework in which more specific climate policies would be implemented. The IPCC Special Report on technology Transfer (IPCC, 2000) identifies various important barriers that could impede environmental technology transfer, such aslack of data, information, and knowledge, especially on emerging technologiesinadequate vision about the reasonableness of local needs and demandshigh transaction costs and poor macro economic conditionsinsufficient human and institutional capabilitiesinappropriate technology adopted andPoor legal institutions and framework.These hold good for the ov erall barriers of mitigation in Indian Context also. In terms of governance and its intervention, technology transfer can be traded off with some of our own indigenous technologies. This will ensure equitable exchange and also promote indigenous Indian Science. home(a) Policy for Climate Change MitigationWe, as present generation have inherited this environment and atmosphere from our ancestors. Further the consequences of climate change will be faced by our children in the future. And so it can be said that climate change is an inherently different and irreversible problem as compared to other environmental problems. Also, the assumption that forward experience of problems like air pollution has failed at many levels as a good model upon which policy decisions on climate can be based. Options to mitigate climate change include actual emission reductions carbon dioxide sequestration and investments in developing technologies that will make future reductions affordable and easily av ailable since cheap relative to their current costs. Since the source of UNFCC in 1992, the Govt. of India has been an active participant in the climate charge negotiations. India being a party to the UNFCC was the 38th country to ratify it on November 01, 1993. The Ministry of milieu Forests is the nodal Ministry for all environment related activities in the country and is the nodal Ministry for co-coordinating the climate charge policy as well. The working group on the FCCC was constituted to carry off the implementation of obligations under the FCCC and to act as a consultative mechanism in the Govt. for impacts to policy formulation on climate change. To enlarge the feedback mechanism the Govt. of India has constituted an Advisory group on climate charge under the chairmanship of the Minister of environment Forests.Development of National Guidelines Policy Options for reducing GHG EmissionsThe national guidelines or framework for monitoring GHG emissions and policy option s for reducing GHG should emphasize not only on issues associated with climate change but also include the followingEmission ForecastingSetting goalsPolicy criteriaPolicy paygradeOrganizational and political issuesClimate change and GHG emission and sequestration may include many sectors of society and extend far into the future. Furthermore, policy measures to address GHGs overlap with many other public policy objectives, however in a complimentary way. Policy formulations involveUnderstanding the issues at hand,Having a broad vision of the range of actions that governments can take to address those issues,Selecting from within this the approaches that offer the most potential far achieving multiple public goals. more(prenominal) importantly, the policy formulation process must respond to local helping and must address institutional, fiscal, political, and other constraints. The Govt. of India has nevertheless addressed a large number of local and regional environmental issues in its developmental strategy that are complementary to the climate change issue.Institutional Arrangements So furthest For Climate Change Related StrategiesIn Area of questionThe Ministry of milieu and Forests (MoEF), Ministry of Science and engineering science (MST), Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), Ministry of Water Resources (MWR), Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Ministry of Non Conventional Energy (MNES), Ministry of Defence (MoD), Ministry of Health and Family welfare (MoHFW), are the main ministries of the Government of India which promote and undertake climate and climate change-related look in the country. The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is also am important agency involved in working of this area and is under the direct governance of the Prime Minister.It supports all the above agencies with satellite-based passive remote sensing. The MoEF, MST, MHRD and MOA operate under the umbrella of many premier national research laboratories and universi ties. The most prominent being the 40 laboratories of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), an supreme body under the MST and the vast network of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) under the MOA. The CSIR is the national RD organization which provides scientific and industrial research for Indias economic growth and human welfare. It has a countrywide network of 40 laboratories and 80 field centers. The ICAR network includes institutes, bureaus, national research centers, The Department of Science and Technology (DST) under the MST coordinates advanced climatic and weather research and data arrangement over the Indian landmass. There are three premier institutions under DST that are solely dedicated to atmospheric science viz. the IMD, the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecast (NCMRWF) and the Indian give of Tropical Meteorology (IITM).Apart from the Indian initiatives, climate change research promoted by international organizations like the World Climate Research design (WCRP), International Geosphere Biosphere course of studyme (IGBP), International Human Dimension Program (IHDP) and DIVERSITAS are being strongly supported by various Indian agencies like Indian Climate Research Program (ICRP) under DST, National Committee- International Geosphere Biosphere Programme (NC-IGBP) constituted by Indian National Science Academy (INSA) and Geosphere-Biosphere Program (GBP) of ISRO. Agencies like CSIR, also provides infra-structural and financial support to carry out research in the area of global changeIn Area of DevelopmentThe single most important feature of our post-colonial experience is that the people of India have conclusively demonstrated their ability to cook up a united nation despite its diversity, and to pursue development within the framework of a functioning, vibrant and pluralistic democracy. In this process, the democratic institutions have put down firm roots, which continue to gain strength and spread. A planned approach to development has been the central process of the Indian democracy, as reflected in the national five-year plans, state plans,departmental annual plans, and perspective plans of various ministries of the central and state governments. For the last five and a half decades, the guiding objectives of the Indian planning process have been sustained economic growth, poverty alleviation, food, health, precept and shelter for all, containing population growth, employment generation, self-reliance, peoples participation in planning and political platform implementation, and infrastructure development.The National Conservation Strategy and Policy mastery on Environment and Development, 1992, provides the basis for the integration of environmental considerations in the policies of various sectors. It aims at the achievement of sustainable lifestyles and the proper management and conservation of resources.The Policy Statement for Abatement of Pollution, 1992, str esses the prevention of pollution at the source, based on the defiler pays principle. It encourages the use of the most appropriate technical solutions, particularly for the protection of intemperately polluted areas and river stretches. The Forest Policy, 1988, highlights environmental protection through preservation and riposte of the ecological balance. The policy seeks to substantially increase the forest cover in the country through afforestation programmes. This environmental framework aims to take cognizance of the longer-term environmental perspective related to industrialization, power generation, transportation, mining, agriculture, irrigation and other such economic activities, as well as to address parallel concerns related to public health and safety.The statutory framework for the environment includes the Indian Forest Act, 1927, the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, The Forest (Conservatio n) Act, 1980, and the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. Other enactments include the reality Liability Insurance Act, 1991, the National Environment Tribunal Act, 1995, and the National Environment Appellate Authority Act, 1997. The courts have also elaborated on the concepts relating to sustainable development, and the polluter pays and precautionary principles. In India, matters of public interest, particularly pertaining to the environment, are furnish effectively through a vigilant media, an active NGO community, and very importantly, through the judicial process which has recognized the citizens right to a pretty environment as a component of the right to li