SciDev.Net

This paper, prepared for the Global Urban Summit, proposes a framework for building climate change adaptation and mitigation measures into India's urban renewal programmes. This involves multiple government stakeholders at national, state and city levels.

The author begins with a description of the urbanisation trends in India and outlines the climate risks facing the subcontinent, including changing rainfall patterns and the potential for more drought, flooding and extreme weather events like cyclones.

The author outlines the vulnerability of urban populations and suggests that reducing it requires a public policy shift towards mainstreaming climate change risk assessment, adaptation and mitigation measures into ongoing national hazard mitigation programmes, and linking them to urban renewal in the largest cities.

Specific measures highlighted by the author include making building data public, building flood defences, strengthening existing infrastructure to withstand disasters and relocating highly vulnerable populations.

The role of developing countries in climate change mitigation has been and continues to be a contentious issue. Developing countries' emissions are predicted to surpass those of industrialised countries within the first half of this century, but no formal commitments to reduce emissions have been made.

This report, prepared for the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, examines six countries — Brazil, China, India, Mexico, South Africa and Turkey — in the context of climate change mitigation. Ongoing efforts in these countries have helped reduce emissions, though not necessarily in the name of mitigating climate change.

The authors find that overall, over the past three decades, these countries have reduced the growth rate of their emissions by 300 million tonnes. The motivations for such efforts include poverty alleviation, economic development, energy security and local environmental protection. This demonstrates that climate change mitigation can and does occur in the context of development that aims to be sustainable.

This report is comprehensive for the countries studied. It is very accessible and likely to be of interest to anyone engaged in the debate about mitigation in the South.

The report is available in pdf format only. An executive summary is availably online here.

This collection of reports summarise the findings from a collaborative project between the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and India's Ministry of Environment and Forests that involved eight Indian research institutes. The reports look specifically at the predicted impacts of climate change on sea level, water resources, agriculture, forestry, energy and human health in India. Each report includes a section looking at the policy implications of the predicted impacts and/or the need for further research.

This collection of nine research articles, published by the Indian Academy of Sciences, presents the latest findings of a network of studies conducted by leading scientific institutes and researchers in India. They examine the likely national impact of climate change on issues such as water availability, tropical cyclone frequency, changes in forest type and malaria transmission rates. The collection also includes an analysis of current and predicted trends for greenhouse gas emissions from India, as well as commentary on mitigation strategies for ensuring sustainable development.

This is the last of a four-part Foreign Policy Centre article titled "India as a new global leader" and argues that energy security will be a major challenge for India's future. It provides many examples of ongoing initiatives to meet the country's growing energy demand.

The first part of the article considers how democratic politics have influenced India's growth patterns. It then argues that India's energy vulnerability is greater than that of China, for example, because of a greater dependence on petroleum products shipped from the Gulf region. An analysis of India's energy sector shows that the country's natural gas demand is quickly outgrowing India's production capacity. Setting this in a context of foreign policy, the article then analyses the constraints on remedying this energy vulnerability.

This informative, well-written report is valuable reading for those interested in energy and foreign policy.

This official report to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), published by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, is a comprehensive document on climate change in India.

The report assesses India's vulnerability and adaptation to climate change, and also provides a greenhouse gas emission inventory from 1994 — something the country is not obliged to include under the UNFCCC. The report also documents India's initiatives on sustainable development, and includes an analysis of the constraints and capacity needs of the country.

The role of developing countries in climate change mitigation has been and continues to be a contentious issue. Developing countries' emissions are predicted to surpass those of industrialised countries within the first half of this century, but no formal commitments to reduce emissions have been made.

This report, prepared for the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, examines six countries — Brazil, China, India, Mexico, South Africa and Turkey — in the context of climate change mitigation. Ongoing efforts in these countries have helped reduce emissions, though not necessarily in the name of mitigating climate change.

The authors find that overall, over the past three decades, these countries have reduced the growth rate of their emissions by 300 million tonnes. The motivations for such efforts include poverty alleviation, economic development, energy security and local environmental protection. This demonstrates that climate change mitigation can and does occur in the context of development that aims to be sustainable.

This report is comprehensive for the countries studied. It is very accessible and likely to be of interest to anyone engaged in the debate about mitigation in the South.

The report is available in pdf format only. An executive summary is availably online here.