India on Tuesday at the UN Security Council called for countries to fulfil their pre-2020 commitments on climate change adding that the idea of climate action should not be to move the climate ambition goalpost to 2050. Speaking at the United Nations Security Council Open VTC Debate “Maintenance of international peace and security: Addressing climate-related risks to international peace and security, Prakash Javadekar, Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change, said that there is no common, widely accepted methodology for assessing the links between climate change, conflict and fragility.
“Fragility and climate impact are highly context-specific. In addition, both peace and conflict assessments, as well as vulnerability assessments, face significant challenges when it comes to data availability and impact measurement. The idea of climate action should not be to move the climate ambition goal post to 2050. It is important for countries to fulfil their pre-2020 commitments. Climate Action needs to go hand-in-hand with the framework for financial, technical and capacity-building support to countries that need it,” he said.
Javadekar called for viewing climate change as a wake-up call and an opportunity to strengthen multilateralism and seek equitable and inclusive solutions to “leave a greener, cleaner and sustainable world for our future generations.”
The Union Minister stated that India is the only country on track among the G20 nations to meet its climate change mitigation commitments. Minister further said that India is not only meeting our Paris Agreement targets but will also exceed them. India currently has the fastest-growing solar energy programme in the world.
Environment minister said that India strongly believes that the only way to generate persistent, long-term and positive action in the climate change domain is through partnerships by undertaking collective action to make a lasting and sustainable impact.
“The International Solar Alliance (ISA) and the Coalition for Disaster Resilience Infrastructure (CDRI) are two such initiatives by India that have been launched to addressing challenges of climate change and adaptation,” he said.
The minister said that while the commitment by developed nations to jointly mobilise 100 billion dollars per year by 2020 in support of climate action in developing nations has been central to Climate Accords since 2009, the delivery on this has been elusive.
“While the commitment by developed countries to jointly mobilize USD 100 billion per year by 2020 in support of climate action in developing countries has been central to the climate accords since 2009, the delivery on this commitment has been elusive. The impacts of climate change and its associated security risks have important gender dimensions. Women and girls experience the interplay between climate change and peace and security in direct and profound ways. Since women are often the providers of food, water and energy for their families they are likely to face increased challenges in accessing resources due to climate change,” he added.
Javadekar pointed out that there is a significant opportunity for countries to integrate low-carbon development in their COVID-19 rescue and recovery measures and long-term mitigation strategies that are scheduled to be announced for the reconvened 26th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 26) in 2021.
“To better integrate climate change adaptation and peacebuilding we would suggest the building of robust governance structures at the local, national and regional levels to address climate and fragility-related risks. This not only improves public perception of government legitimacy but also shores up capacity of states to address climate risks before they become fragile,” he said. The minister said that donor countries should provide greater financial, technological, and capacity-building assistance to help fragile states to put in place necessary adaption and mitigation strategies to combat the impact of climate change.
