India happy with the Paris climate change draft deal, says Javadekar

“At the first glance, we are happy with the draft presented,” environment minister Prakash Javadekar said. “There is differentiation between developed and developing countries in all elements of the agreement,” he said.

Updated on: Dec 13, 2015, 01:43:18 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, Paris

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As French president Francois Hollande called Prime Minister Narendra Modi soon after the Paris agreement was presented, India welcomed it, saying most of its concerns were addressed and the deal was on the “right direction” to safeguard the interests of seven billion people.

Environment minister Prakash Javadekar speaks with United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon prior to a bilateral meeting at the COP21 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Le Bourget near Paris on Friday. javadekar said the climate change agreement adopted at the COP21 summit is linked with the UN climate convention as sought by India. (AP)

“At the first glance, we are happy with the draft presented,” environment minister Prakash Javadekar said. “There is differentiation between developed and developing countries in all elements of the agreement,” he said.

The minister also said the agreement is linked with the UN climate convention as sought by India, and also mentions key words of PM Modi’s climate justice and sustainable lifestyle.

But they have been stated in the preamble of the Paris agreement with relation to importance of “ensuring integrity of all ecosystems” and “biodiversity”. As the terms are not mentioned in different articles, operationalising them may not happen.

But Javadekar said that Modi received recognition from French President Francois Hollande in his speech on Saturday for the global solar alliance. Afterward, Hollande called Modi and apprised him of the broad contours of the Paris agreement. MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted, saying Modi appreciated the gesture.

The agreement was a mixed bag for India, said Harjeet Singh of Actionaid International, adding there was a differentiation but climate finance for the developing world was weak.

Vulnerable nations like India have also lost the battle on ensuring proper compensation mechanism for loss from extreme weather events, he said.

Sanjay Vashist, director, Climate Action Network South Asia said, “The onus was now on the developed countries to fulfill their promises and scale up climate finance flows to support mitigation and adaptation efforts, especially for most vulnerable countries.”

Javadekar termed the Paris agreement as “victory of persistent efforts” of India and its constructive role despite being branded as obstructionist at beginning of the conference.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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