Mint Sustainability Summit: India Must Urgently Build Climate Resilience, Says Senior Forest Official

(MENAFN- Live Mint) India needs to rapidly enhance its climate resilience, as most of the country's landscapes directly support its population, according to Rajesh Kumar, inspector general of forests at the ministry of environment. Speaking at the Mint Sustainability Summit 2024, Kumar emphasized the pressing need for long-term strategies to mitigate the impact of climate change.

Climate resilience is the ability of communities to prepare for and respond to dangerous climate events, with the goal of mitigating environmental, societal, and economic damage, Kumar said on Tuesday.

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Kumar stressed that the effects of climate change are already being felt, underscoring the urgency for a strategic approach that includes low-carbon transportation systems, climate-friendly urban planning, and the decoupling of economic growth from carbon emissions across various sectors.

“(L)imiting global emissions within a defined carbon budget is obiviously the key aspect which is, in fact, the critical thing which all of us across the world striving to achieve, to keep the temperature below one degree or maximum 1.5 degree. And India maintains that operationalising this target will have to be based on equity and finance justice,” said Kumar.

India, a signatory to the 2015 Paris Agreement, has committed to keeping global average surface warming below the 1.5-degree threshold. Kumar pointed out that developed nations must lead by becoming carbon-neutral, while developing countries should also aim for net-zero emissions by 2050, requiring substantial investments in key sectors like energy.

The forest official highlighted the importance of low-carbon development pathways, which involve transitioning towards a future with reduced carbon footprints. These pathways include energy efficiency, limiting fossil fuel use, and conserving energy.

“Perhaps the established position of the country is that we will factor in the existing resources based on the national priorities and move forward while trying to be as close as most of these zero emission strategies which we can achieve now towards building climate resilience,” he said.

A seasoned civil servant with two decades of experience, Kumar also emphasized the crucial role of international cooperation in supporting developing economies to meet their climate goals.

He noted that international cooperation is pivotal for helping developing nations achieve their developmental goals in the context of climate change, both in terms of mitigation and adaptation.

Kumar stressed that India's climate ambitions depend significantly on global support for technology transfer and capacity building under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

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“India cannot deploy low carbon climate strategies at a significant scale unless facilitative global technology regime is also in place,” he asserted.

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