Ahead of the UN Climate Summit 2014 to be held in New York in September, Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said, in what appears to be a message to the global audience, “don’t blame us for carbon emissions.”

He said that while the country definitely needs to reduce its emissions, India and other developing countries also have a “right to grow” which can entail some rise in emissions.

Javadekar, who was speaking on the World Day to Combat Desertification, said, “I have not created carbon emission problems, it has been done by others.”

Walk out Last year, the Indian delegation, along with more than 100 developing countries, had walked out of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (UNCCC) 2013 held in Warsaw over the refusal of the developed countries to agree to a mechanism for compensation for climate change-induced disasters, which affect the developing and least developing countries most.

Developing countries wanted developed nations to respect the 2009 Copenhagen pledge to provide up to $100 billion by 2020 for environmental damage. 

The argument of the countries demanding compensation was that today’s climate change is an effect of years of emissions due to industrial development by developed countries.

The next edition of the UNCCC will be held in Lima, Peru, in December.

Javadekar also announced that the Ministry aims to make India desertification-neutral by 2030.

Desertification, a result of increasing population, deforestation and climate change-related events is also a threat to the country’s food security as it reduces the land available for agriculture.

He said the Ministry would collaborate with the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Rural Development and the Ministry of Water Resources to achieve this target. Increasing population is resulting in one-third of the country’s land area becoming barren.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW