a Plan without a vision -critical concerns infocus page july 2008

IN FOCUS
A Plan without a Vision?

The long-awaited National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) is an important mark in the climate chnage debate in India. It is not, however, an adequate response to the scale of the challenge. Despite these drawbacks, simply having such a plan is significant for climate related debates in India

India has faced considerable, and largely unfair, pressure from the industrialised world to take action for a problem substantially created by them. At the same time, India has much to lose from a changing climate, and much to gain for climate and non-climate reasons from enhancing the ecological sustainability of our development path.

The NAPCC starts with an important commitment to re-direct growth objectives toward ecological sustainability, but provides a mixed bag of measures through which to do so. As a result, the NAPCC document is neither fully vision nor plan. And it fails to grapple squarely with the international deadlock in the climate arena. Despite these drawbacks, simply having such a plan is significant for climate related debates in India.

On the other, the G8 summit in Japan was also expected to address the issue of climate change and come up with a vision statement as how it is to be achieved.

But what emerged from the summit leads to the conclusion that the rate of progress on critical issues between successive summits is questionable. The leadership of the richest countries in the world needs to reflect on their responsibility to the global community at large and the expectations which call for bolder measures and major changes in the interests of protecting the planet and all species living on it.

If the G8 countries, led by the United States, are indeed serious about mitigating climate change, they must deliver on their promises between now and 2012, when the Kyoto Protocol ends. They need to work with utmost urgency to cut their own emissions from a meaningful baseline.

The Plan is meant to evolve and change with scientific developments and through multilateral negotiations, the prime minister said...

India releases 8-point agenda to combat climate change
by Padmaparna Ghosh,
MINT, Mumbai,
01 Jul 2008

The mean world of climate change
by Sunita Narain,
Down To Earth Magazine,
16 Jul 2008

Climate change -India's worries
by Raj Chengappa,
India Today Magazine,
14 Jul 2008

Stand Up And Deliver
by R K Pachuri,
The Times of

India

, Mumbai,
14 Jul 2008

Hot Currents
by Seema Sirohi,
Outlook Magazine,
14 Jul 2008

G8 falls short on climate
The Hindu, Chennai,
12 Jul 2008

National Action Plan On Climate Change,
Extracted from National Actional Plan On Climate Change,
government of

India

, Prime Minister's Council On Climate Change

In The Woods Over Environment Policy
by Bittu Sahgal,
Tehelka Magazine,
19 Jul 2008

Doomsday report
by Chetan Chauhan,
The Hindustan Times, New Delhi,
02 Jul 2008'

The Hokkaido communique on climate change of the Group of Eight countries does not lay down targets for emissions reductions in the developed countries. Yet the G-8 asks developing countries to take more meaningful mitigation actions. How does India's new national action plan propose to deal with climate change and how is it different from the approach being suggested by the G-8?

The G-8 and India's National Action Plan on Climate Change
by Mukul Sanwal
Economic & Political Weekly, Magazine,
19 Jul 2008

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IN FOCUS - June 2008 issue

Crises within a Crisis
What we see unfolding before us in the wake of the global food crisis - severe shortage of chemical fertilisers, the unnecessary hurry to push through GMOs and the failure of the Rome conference to come up with fresh initiatives to overcome the crisis - indicate that the right to profit has taken precedence over the right to food. Across the globe, the entire chain of resources and inputs are now being cornered by corporations. Farm land, water, fertiliser, seeds, pesticides and many more.