Kathmandu to Cop15 &… India
Posted on 03. Sep, 2009 by annied in climate change, water
On Monday and Tuesday this week countries of the Himalayan region met in Nepal to agree a regional consensus for the Climate Change talks in December. Afghanistan, Bangladesh, the Maldives, Nepal, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka all participated.
Watch "Saving Everest"
The final document states that East Asia is densely populated and has a challenging terrain thus making it’s people particularly vulnerable to climate change (click here to read the full document). In addition, the Himalayan glacier is melting (click the photo at right to watch a film on the subject). Water is under stress in the region, and water delivery is limited (again because of lacking infrastructure — click the photo below to watch a film about water stress in Nepal). 1.3 billion people depend on water from the Himalayan glacier and 750 million people in the Himalaya region already face regular droughts and floods. The region will require a lot of help from the developed world.
Watch Drinking Water in Nepal
In related news:
Mexico and the US have since released a draft statement saying that a “Green fund” needs to be included in the Copenhagen negotiations in order to bridge the IT and brain gaps between developing countries and developed and emerging market countries. It is estimated that developing countries will need between $500-600 billion annually to adapt to climate change and still develop as green as possible. The draft calls for the G20 nations to all contribute to the fund. Developed countries have “used up” most GHG emissions, developing countries need to be assured an equitable chance at economic development themselves.
It is not certain how well this will be received by India. Almost two-thirds of India’s population lives on less than $2 a day. India has been reluctant to agree to preliminary language for Copenhagen: In d’Aquila it was last hold out on an agreement to limit global warming to 2 degrees and it participated in the Himalayan regional summit in a limited capacity. The BICS (Brazil India China South Africa) have been collectively reluctant to agree to 50% emissions cuts by 2050. Indian concerns are multifaceted and rightly so. Developed countries have called for limitations on the expansion of coal power, whilst (the Economic Times of India points out) half of India’s planned power supply expansion until 2030 is to come from coal fired plants. Currently 550 million Indian’s don’t have access to any electricity at all (not to mention the millions more that have intermittent access). India’s electricity consumption is 5% of that of Western countries, and will only expand to 30% in the next decade.
Green technology isn’t cheaper– yet. And developed countries are reluctant to agree to drop intellectual property rights for green technology (that’s likely to be a knock down fight at Copenhagen).
What do you think? Should India be expected to agree to binding emissions cuts and language that limits temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius?