What was the objective behind Climate Change India 2008?
After the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) report, climate change has become a global issue. WISE wanted to look at its impact on India, the possible mitigation and adaptation strategies that need to be adopted, and policy changes to address climate change. I understand the Government of India has taken a stand that developed countries are the pollutants and developing countries should not be made to reduce (carbon) emissions. My point is that we need to take mitigation and adaptation strategies in our own interest, not because of the developed countries, even though they have created the problem, but because we are going to be the sufferers. We have to take defensive strategies, and this conference was a move in that direction. What does the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report say? The IPCC report broadly says that 2 degrees of warming is expected by, say, 2050 if we don’t cut emissions by 80 per cent. Most of the reduction in emissions has to come from the developed countri
