India wants a fair deal on global warming: Govt

There should be no barriers to its own economic growth. We are deeply concerned over the issue of global warming and climate change. The best thing for mitigating the problem is that countries do things on their own. We are doing it and over the next two three months more countries will know what we are doing.”

Referring to the issue of increasing the forest cover,particularly in the Himalayan states of Arunachal Pradesh,Sikkim,Himachal Pradesh,Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand,the minister said that these states need to be given special incentives for maintaining the forest cover and expressed hope that the central government would respond to the suggestions made by him.

He disclosed that a plan is being worked out to give a green bonus or dividend to states that are maintaining their forest cover and are taking steps to improve it.

Elaborating on the proposed plan,he said,” These states would be given financial incentives from the finance and the planning commissions. This would be taken a step further and financial incentives would then be given to local self governments.” He said that such incentives are necessary for these states as they are under tremendous economic pressure to do away with forests.

The minister spoke at length on the issue of the health of Himalayan glaciers. He disclosed that a National Institute of Himalayan Glaciology is being set up in Dehradun to study the changes in the Himalayan glaciers.

Ramesh added that the purpose of setting up such an institute is to collaborate with China,Bhutan and maybe Pakistan at a later stage to gather scientific evidence related to the glaciers.

He candidly said,” The fact that Himalayan glaciers are receding is beyond doubt. However,what is still to be established is the cause of the recession. “The minister pointed out that while the western school of thought attributes the recession of glaciers to global warming,Indian scientists are of the opinion that there is still not enough solid evidence to substantiate that the receding of glaciers is because of global warming.

He pointed out that while it is true that about 15,000 glaciers are receding,studies point out that there are also some like the Siachen glacier that are advancing. “In case of Gangotri,the rate of retreat in last ten years is lesser than the rate of retreat in the previous decade,” he said.

He also asserted that there is a need to understand the characteristics and differences between the Arctic glaciers and the Himalayan glaciers. While Arctic glaciers have their snouts in the sea,the snouts of the Himalayan glaciers are 3500 to 4000 meters above the sea level.

Referring to the agitations against the proposed hydel projects on the Ganges,he said that the National Ganga River Basin Authority set up under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh will study the sustainable use of water in the Ganga system. “We are moving from a project based approach to a basin based approach,” he said while adding that it has been decided to hire a consultant for the same and 30 bids have been received so far for making plans for the entire basin.

A similar Authority is also being planned for the Teesta river. He admitted that the construction of Lohari Nagpala project in Uttarakhand would be the test phase for the new approach.

Ramesh further pointed that India should aim to bring at least 20 per cent of its total cultivated area under organic farming by 2020.

Remembering the former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh YSR Reddy,he said that the latter had taken up the challenge to bring 10 per cent of area under organic farming where cotton,red chilly,red gram and cotton is being grown.

Ramesh said that the Himalayas are a natural zone for organic farming and the effort should not be on default organic farming but on certified organic farming.