Climate justice in Copenhagen: Deal or No deal for India

U Sudhakar Reddy

India faces tremendous pres sure to sign the deal in Copen hagen. But experts feel that climate change is about sharing atmospheric space and economic growth. The rich have to cut carbon emission so the rest can grow and there shall not be cli mate injustice. Even by 2020, with almost one-fifth of the world's population residing in India, the country's share of greenhouse gas emissions is expected to rise by just seven per cent.As the pressure is building up on developing nations, including India, to seal the deal at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December, noted Indian environmental experts are cautioning that no deal is better than a bad deal when it comes to crucial cuts in carbon emissions.
Substantial cuts in greenhouse gas emissions -- the prime cause of climate change -- is seen as stunting a country's economic growth. India is far behind the United States and the European Union in per capita carbon emissions. India, with its many poor people, also uses less electricity and fuel due to the high prices and the Indian lifestyle.
Stanford University, Indian Institute of TechnologyChennai, and the energy NGO Prayas have come out with an overview of Indian energy trends, which highlights India's low carbon growth pattern and the development challenges it faces. The challenge before India at Copenhagen is not to be seen as a "deal breaker" and yet at the same time to protect its own interests.
Though India is the fourth largest emitter of greenhouse gases, after China, the United States and Russia, the per capita CO2 emission is only 1.3 tonnes, which is well below the world average of 4.4 tonnes. In terms of per capita emissions, one US citizen is the equivalent of 19 Indians and 107 Bangladeshis.
Even by 2020, with almost one-fifth of the world's population residing in India, the country's share of greenhouse gas emissions is expected to rise by just seven per cent.
Mr Girish Sant of the Prayas Energy Group in Pune says, "The drivers for this situation is our low carbon lifestyle pattern such as vegetarianism, high use of non-motorised modes of transport and public transportation, high industrial energy prices, energy efficiency improvement in select industries and use of renewable energies." India's electricity tariffs are the highest in the world and gasoline and diesel cost more than they do in the US and China. The transportation sector in India is responsible for only about 15 per cent of total commercial energy consumption; globally, transportation makes up about a quarter of total energy demand.
Ms Sunita Narain, director of the Centre for Science and Environment, says that climate change is "real and urgent and it needs us to act quickly and drastically. But climate change is linked to economic growth."
If annual emissions remain at today's level, greenhouse gas emissions would be close to 550 ppm by 2050 and this would mean a rise in earth's temperature of 3 to 5 degrees centigrade, with disastrous consequences.
Developed countries have been saying that they will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent by 2050, but want developing countries too to accept emission reduction targets.
"Now there is pressure on India and China. Climate change is about sharing atmospheric space and economic growth. The rich have to reduce so the rest can grow and there shall not be climate injustice. Cooperation demands equity and fairness which is the pre-requisite for an effective climate agreement. The trajectory of growth has been to first pollute, get rich and then clean up. We are being asked to clean up before we get rich! Then, again, technologies that exist are expensive."
Ms Narain says industrialised countries have to make deep cuts (40 per cent by 2020). The emerging rich and the rest have to participate not by taking legally binding cuts but through a strategy to avoid future emissions.
"We need an effective climate agreement. We need a balanced climate agreement.Asking for it is not wrong.We must not mind being hated in the rich man's world," she said.
Dr Prodipto Ghosh, India's climate change negotiator said, "Developed countries have to be responsible to the historical accumulation and current levels and must be sincere in their discussions.They should stick to the Bali action plan. There is not the slightest change in India's stand. The Indian and Chinese delegations stood by each other in discussions and will continue to do so."

Meat cut or carbon cut: Vegetarian India good for climate

U Sudhakar Reddy

The fact that large numbers of the Indian population are vegetarians has reduced India's impact on climate change.
The meat industry and livestock sector contribute 18 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Indians consume only 1/11th of the meat eaten by an average Chinese and 1/25th of that eaten by an American.
China consumes the most meat at 71.8 million tonnes per year, followed by Europe at 54.2, and the United States at 36.3. India's total meat consumption is 5.6 million tonnes annually. "Despite growing meat consumption in the country, India's aggregate meat consumption is a mere fraction of both the other countries. If we transit to less meat or even a complete switchover to plant based protein food, it will have a dramatic impact on land use," says Mr Girish Sant, environmental expert with Prayas.
Livestock emit the greenhouse gases methane and nitrous oxide in the process of digesting their food. The additional principal conservator of forests (environment cell) Ms C.S.Ramalakshmi says, "Livestock farming is the key reason for the climate change.
India being a low meat consuming country is thus good for us. Recently we, along with local organisations have conducted a walk to promote vegetarianism in Hyderabad."
The vegetarian movement has to be taken up on large scale, she says.

Climate Change: Himalayan glaciers melting fast

U Sudhakar Reddy

Himalayan glaciers are receding continuously and significantly says glaciologist Mr Rajesh Kumar of the Birla Institute of Technology (BIT) who conducted a major study on the Himalayas.
Witnessing Change: Glaciers in the Indian Himalayas, a report by WWF-India and BIT, researches the retreat patterns of two glaciers of Uttarakhand -- Gangotri (30-km long) and Kafni (4.2-km long) -- in the last couple of years.
The Gangotri is one of the largest ice bodies in the Himalayas and is a major source of fresh water.
A comparative analysis of the glacier snout position carried out using data for the past three decades found that not only the main trunk of the glacier recede, its length also reduced by 1.5 km in 66 years with an average retreat rate of 22.1 metres per year.
"The plausible reasons linked to this retreat is reduction in snowfall and increase in local temperature. There is an average loss of 0.279 square kilometre of area of glacier," Mr Kumar said.
In the past 64 years, the total area reduced is 17.84 square kilometres. This amounts to 25.33 per cent of the total glacier area since 1942.
Mr Kumar said, "This is a continuos process, though the rate of retreat fluctuated during different intervals of time."
According to the study, the Kafni glacier also retreated. "The average retreat of Kafani glacier is 16.5 metres per year in the last three decades. But it decreased later and then again increased to 15.55 metres per year in 200809," said Mr Kumar.
"The dynamics of the monsoon are influenced by the Himalayan system which acts as a reservoir to sustain agriculture, providing freshwater and ground water recharge, and is home to a unique ecosystem with many endemic species," Mr Kumar says.
Satellite images clearly show the shift in the location of glaciers since 1937, reiterating the point that 450 glaciers across the Himalayas are melting fast.
The Himalayan glaciers have reduced from 2,000 sq km to 1,600 sq km which is a reduction of 21 per cent! Glaciers such as Kafni in Himachal are shrinking at an alarming rate. Melting of these glaciers has led to drastic climatic changes such as rise in temperature and decrease in snowfall.