Simple message

Simple message

The 'official' Indian focus so far has been on the politics of climate change negotiations, not on the actual impacts and adaptation policy. Every agency seems to be in a state of denial over global warming. There is not enough research and empirical proof of the building crisis. In the absence on credible information, there is no political pressure on the government.

dst has three programmes on weather/climate research one, the Himalayan Glaciology Programme, which coordinates studies on glaciers; two, the Monsoon and Tropical Climate and Agrometorology Programme, aimed at understanding the weather and climate all over India, especially monsoon forecasting; and three, the Indian Climate Research Programme, which looks at climatic variability only, not climate change. The Union ministry of environment and forests (moef) has a division on climate impacts and policy.

Are these doing their job? Invariably not, as is evident from the scrubby data available on glaciers and the absence of a single study on climate change (though it is integral to climatic variability). As for moef, its adviser Subodh Sharma acknowledges that it studies only the future impacts of climate change, not the present impacts.

Climate change is a larger challenge of sustainable development that could affect India's economic growth. Therefore, sustainable development policies can be more effective when consistently embedded within broader strategies that are based on national and regional climatic variations. Changes in precipitation can affect a variety of planning issues, such as the planning and design of hydrological structures, river basin management, flood control and drought management, urban planning and industrial development.

Agricultural policy needs to be reinvented in keeping wiht the changing behaviour of the monsoon. Forest policy will need to account for erosion mitigation measures in areas where precipitation is predicted to be high. Wastewater and sewerage will need to take intense rainfall into account. For all this to happen, climate change has to be acknowledged and studied. Otherwise, developed countries might use something like the Stern Review in a bad way to force emission reduction commitments. That will be a double whammy for India. 12jav.net12jav.net