Eye on Copenhagen summit,Indias climate change strategy discussed at book release in city

With high-profile negotiations on climate change set to begin in Copenhagen,a group of academics and journalists in Delhi debated on Monday what Indias strategy should be.

With high-profile negotiations on climate change set to begin in Copenhagen,a group of academics and journalists in Delhi debated on Monday what Indias strategy should be. The occasion was the launch of a book by noted journalist Praful Bidwai on the agenda for Copenhagen,and beyond.

In the book,titled An India That Can Say Yes,Bidwai is critical of the Indian governments emphasis on its low per capita emission of carbon as justification to do little to combat climate change. While he agrees that it is certainly a large factor in Indias differentiated obligations,he points to grave made-in-India environmental problems,such as the rapid melting of the Himalayan glaciers,high coal emissions and rise in sea levels due to overuse of groundwater.

Bidwai is also critical of market-based measures such as carbon-trading,arguing that the impact of carbon emissions is so local that planting trees far away is unlikely to help.

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In the discussion that followed the book release,Navroz Dubash,environmental academic and Senior Fellow at the Centre for Policy Research,agreed with most points made in the book. His one note of criticism was that Bidwai could have addressed the way forward more clearly. He pointed out that many of the unilateral measures Bidwai (and he) were advocating for India,the United States was also insisting upon in the Copenhagen summit. If India unilaterally agreed to these measures without the US having to fulfill its obligations,the US would have won the negotiations by default.

Aditi Kapoor from Oxfam,speaking at the release,said that in the end,climate change is about politics and the role that equity has to play. Highlighting this was the books greatest strength,Kapoor felt.

All the panelists agreed that the governments policy on climate change could have benefited from being broader-based,and involving a host of civil society groups. But,as Dubash said,the biggest flaw of our climate change strategy is that it is centred on the techniques of international negotiations,not on how it is impacting us internally.

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Eye on Copenhagen summit,Indias climate change strategy discussed at book release in city

With high-profile negotiations on climate change set to begin in Copenhagen,a group of academics and journalists in Delhi debated on Monday what Indias strategy should be.

Eye on Copenhagen summit,Indias climate change strategy discussed at book release in city

With high-profile negotiations on climate change set to begin in Copenhagen,a group of academics and journalists in Delhi debated on Monday what Indias strategy should be.