Union Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav on Monday announced that the first meeting of the G20 Environmetal and Climate Sustainability Working Group will be held on February 9-10 in Bengaluru with land degradation, blue economy and the circular economy being three focal points of discussions under the Indian presidency. “Issues of land degradation, circular economy and blue economy issues are of prime importance for the future for policy makers. In the last budget we saw that the steps taken by the government in addressing climate issues have been admirable. We have met many of our Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) targets ahead of time. In this budget as well, we have taken forward the green bonds from the last budget and introduced the green credit system. The government has made a good provision for the National Hydrogen Mission. Apart from this, for the first time in the country that importance has been given to wetlands in the budget. Currently there are 75 Ramsar sites in India and the government has made provisions to increase these further,’’ said Yadav. “One of the major challenges for land degradation is the over utilization of fertilisers in agriculture which has also been addressed in this budget. This was a green budget brought by the government. Three budgets after 2015 have looked at climate action and infrastructure resilience,” he added. Under its presidency, India will push for arresting land degradation, accelerating ecosystem restoration, and enriching biodiversity, promoting a sustainable and climate-resilient blue economy and encouraging resource efficiency and circular economy in its final communique which will be issued in July this year after four stages of meetings, said the minister. G20 member countries Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, EU , Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Republic of Korea will take part in the discussions alongwith ten member countries – Bangladesh, Egypt Mauritius, Netherlands, Nigeria, Oman, Singapore, Spain, UAE and Denmark. International and regional organisations including CDRI, FAO, ISA, UNCCD, UNEP, UNDP, UNFCCC will also take part. Ministry officials said that the G20 countries collectively account for 80% of the annual Green House Gas emissions while controlling 75% of the world trade and 85% of the global GDP. “The G20 countries therefore have an extremely important role to play in climate solutions,” said Ministry official Richa Sharma. Officials added that between 2015 to 2021, the world has extracted 70% more virgin materials than what the Earth can regenerate and sea-level rise and ocean acidification due to ocean warming threaten half the global GDP of USD 44 trillion. There has also been a 69% decline in monitored populations of vertebrates (mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish) since 1970. India will also be pushing for the adoption of “sustainable lifestyle choices and production practices mainstreaming mindful utilization’’, or mission LIFE which has been a priority with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Officials said that the key areas which will be addressed by the G20 on environment will include 23% of global area no longer being productive for agricultural use and the fall of 68% population of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish. Marine pollution and the protection of mangroves and coral reefs will also be addressed. As much as 24 trillion USD of natural capital is held by oceans while 25% of global Co2 emissions are sequestered by oceans. India will therefore push for the adoption of a G20 Framework to Combat Land Degradation and recommendations to G20 countries on priority area, G20 Online Knowledge and Solutions Exchange Platform to identify and showcase successful land restoration projects, development of G20 Principles for a Sustainable and Resilient Blue Economy to promote G20 cooperation on conservation, protection and responsible use of ocean resources and convene the ‘Oceans 20 Dialogue’ to assess best practices for blue asset management for adaptation with mitigation co benefits, and in mobilizing finance for SDG 14.
