The Hindu : National : Soz questions parameters adopted in UNDP report

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Saturday, Dec 01, 2007
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Soz questions parameters adopted in UNDP report

Special Correspondent

“It has used faulty parameters to produce a report that is “unacceptable””

“India responding well to climate change and working towards poverty alleviation”
Allocation for rural water and sanitation increased to Rs. 41800 crore

NEW DELHI: Minister for Water Resources Saifuddin Soz on Thursday questioned the parameters adopted in the Human Development Report 2007-08 of the United Nations Development Project on ‘Fighting Climate Change: Human solidarity in a divided world.’

Talking to journalists, Mr. Soz, who was Minister for Environment and Forests, said the UNDP had used “faulty parameters” to produce a report that is “unacceptable.”

“Why compare?”

“How can India’s [carbon dioxide emissions] be compared with Norway, Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands? These countries are small; we value their achievements, but to compare India with their parameters, and to say that it has slipped two points, cannot be accepted,” he said.

According to him, India was doing well and responding to the [climate change] situation in a big way with huge investments on poverty alleviation and social sector programmes, which were interlinked.

The allocation for rural water and sanitation, for instance, was raised from Rs. 198 billion in the 10th Plan to Rs. 418 billion in the 11th Plan. The budget for water management and irrigation was also hiked from Rs. 14000 crore to Rs. 23000 crore.

“Climate change massive threat”

The UNDP report released on Tuesday said that “in the long run, climate change is a massive threat to human development, and in some places, it was undermining the international community’s efforts to reduce extreme poverty.”

Mr. Soz pointed out that being a party to the Kyoto protocol, India was adopting the Clean Development Mechanism, the latest being its move towards exploiting nuclear energy for its energy needs.

“Norway has a population of 45 million people and an area of 0.39 square kilometres. Likewise, Denmark, Sweden and Netherlands have small populations and tiny geographic areas. It is wrong to compare India — with over one billion population and an area of 3.3 million square kilometres — with them. This puts a question mark on the reliability of the UNDP report.”

Industrialised countries to lead

“Moreover, there has to be common but differentiated responsibility globally and it is known and established that developed and industrialised countries have to take the lead in reducing carbon dioxide emissions,” he added.

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