NEW DELHI: Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar on Monday said that any global agreement on climate change should not only be about mitigation and emission cuts, but must take into account adaptation and common but differentiated responsibilities (CBDR). He said the NDA government is finalising a comprehensive action plan on the `100 crore climate change adaptation fund introduced in the Union Budget this year. Speaking at a national workshop on ‘Scaling up Good Practices for Climate Change Adaptation’, the minister said that adaptation, capacity building and strengthening rural communities would be the top priority for the government to address the challenges posed by climate change.
“Climate change as a comprehensive issue needed to be addressed at the global, national, regional and even at the local level, which is at the state and district level. While at the global level the focus was on emission cuts and mitigation, India had focused on financial and technological support, information sharing and technology transfer for the developing communities to scale up adaptation strategies,” he said.
Stating that a balanced global view needed to incorporate these aspects as part of the new International Protocol on Climate Change, would emerge in 2015, Javadekar said, “The world must come forward by providing adequate finance, technology and adaptation, and differentiated responsibilities must also become part of the new global order in climate change. It is not only about mitigation and emission cuts.”
Javadekar called for a collaborative, community-based, and participatory approach and emphasised that efficient watershed management and water budgeting, soil health cards, and disaster-risk mitigation strategies were of paramount importance.
Mentioning that the entire approach instituted had to be “bottom up”, he said that common people and farmers in India were ready to adopt good practices and successfully adapt to the changes brought about by climate change.