Minister for forests and environment Jairam Ramesh believes India is building an important link between climate change and biodiversity by creating an Indian version of the IPCC.
India has created its own indigenous Indian Network for Comprehensive Climate Change Assessment (INCCCA) that will measure the impact of climate change in the key areas of agriculture, forests, water and health. It will also focus on studying the eco-sensitive Himalayan regions, the Western Ghats, the Northeast and the coastal regions, the minister stated.
The minister was addressing a National Seminar on Biodiversity, Development and Poverty Alleviation in the context of Climate Change at Teri, whose chairperson, Dr R.K. Pachauri, heads the IPCC, which is working on preparing its fifth report on how to fight climate change.
Another key initiative the MoEF was planning to take, Mr Ramesh stated, was to double its aforestation targets as a part of Greening India Mission which is one of the missions under the National Action Plan on Climate Change.
India was set to play a larger role in protection of forests and biodiversity, especially in the 10th Conference of Parties (COP) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to be held in Nagoya, Japan, in October this year.
“The Nagoya meet which will be attended by 193 members, is crucial for developing nations like India which are seeking a single legally binding international pact to deal with access to and benefit sharing of bio-resources, a move that is being vehemently opposed by the rich countries.” Mr Ramesh stressed that the developed and developing nations had divergent views on the biological resources. “We would work with the international community to minimise the differences at the meet. But whatever we do, let us not link it with international negotiations,” said Mr Ramesh.
The ministry is planning to set up a People’s Register of Biodiversity, so that traditional knowledge being passed down orally can also be documented.