The Hindu : National : Committee on climate change set up

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Friday, May 11, 2007
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Committee on climate change set up

Divya Gandhi

BANGALORE: An expert committee on climate change has been formed by the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF), as recommended by the Union budget last February.

The nine-member committee will have as its chairperson R. Chidambaram, Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India. The committee was notified on Monday, according to Siddharth Behura, Special Secretary, MoEF.

The members include R.K. Pachauri, Chairman, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Director-General, Tata Energy Resource Institute (TERI), New Delhi; N.H. Ravindranath, Chairman, Centre for Sustainable Technology, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore; A.K. Gosain, Professor, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), New Delhi; Kanchan Chopra, Professor, Institute of Economic Growth, New Delhi; Anand Patwardhan, Professor, IIT, Mumbai; R. Sukumar, Professor, Centre for Ecological Sciences, IISc, Bangalore; Ligia Noronha, Senior Fellow, TERI, New Delhi; and S.K. Sikka, Scientific Secretary, Office of Principal Scientific Advisor to Government of India.

Ex-officio members

There are also 12 ex-officio members that include the secretaries of two Ministries, namely, Environment and Forests, and Earth Sciences; and secretary, Department of Science and Technology.

The committee will "study the impact of anthropogenic [human-induced] climate change on India" and "identify the measures that we may have to take in the future in relation to addressing the vulnerability to anthropogenic climate change impact," according to Mr. Behura.

The Union Budget notes that India is neither a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions "nor will it be so in the foreseeable future." Nevertheless it recognised India as among the countries most vulnerable to climate change and recommended an expert committee to study the impact of climate change on India.

Dr. Ravindranath of IISc told The Hindu that while such a high profile committee of scientists was timely, he hoped that it would not end up being a "purely scientific panel" with no linkages with policy makers. "We must be assured of the backing of policy makers, so we are not reduced to a panel that merely writes reports. For any policy on energy efficiency and climate change, it is crucial to have the involvement of four Ministries: Ministry of Power, Ministry of Coal, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Ministry of New and Renewable Energy," said Dr. Ravindranath. These Ministries are now not represented in the committee.

"There has to be a system by which our recommendations are translated into government strategies especially during international negotiations," he said, adding that this would be particularly important during the G8 summit in June that the Prime Minister would be attending.

On his vision for the committee, Dr. Ravindranath said the panel must commit itself to adopt a greater sense of urgency.

"Even though our per capita emissions are negligible, urban India is a major contributor to greenhouse gases, especially in the power generation sector. This means that 30 per cent of India's population contributes to nearly 70 per cent of the country's emissions."

India also needs a "Plan B" in the likely event that United States and other industrialised nations who have not complied with the Kyoto protocol will not sign any new agreement either.

Prof. Sukumar said that since climate change was a global phenomenon to which India in particular was vulnerable, an action plan was needed that would be implemented by the Government.

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