India has two complex and inter-related problems. The first is
to bring a vast population out of poverty and into decent lives. The second is
to do this while dealing responsibly with the global carbon challenge and
building resilience to climate change.
India is currently top of the list of nations expected to be worst
hit by the adverse effect of climate change. Recently several disaster events
occurred in northern region of the country.
Extreme weather in India has killed over 70 people in a day
What has been going on?
Rural Stress, Natural Disasters and Rising Poverty
Almost half the country is at high risk from events such as
loss of a job or ill health of a family member. Combined with damage from a
severe cyclone, flood or drought, each subsequent shock will have a
multiplier effect on hundreds of millions, potentially pushing them deeper into poverty.
Few Job Prospects in Rural Area
Add to this the current rural distress and the large youth bulge
with few job prospects, and the country is in dire straits. It is clear that
past development frameworks have not improved well-being across social strata. Instead, evidence indicates that economic growth has
gone hand-in-hand with rising inequality.
What has been done?
1. Transformative
Innovation for energy production
India has a large number of successful examples of transformative innovation around energy production
and access, land, livelihoods and climate resilience. The Bureau of Energy
Efficiency showed how government ‘nudges’ are made effective through appliance
labeling and large-scale procurement of efficient devices.
2. Natural
Fibre Composite- Low carbon Technologies
In the building and cement industry, innovation around housing
and new materials, including natural fibre composites, could make far-reaching changes in infrastructure through low-carbon
modular technologies.
3. Solar
Target of 100GB by 2022- and Installing Micro-grids
India expects to reach its ambitious solar target of 100 GW
capacities by 2022 primarily through large centralized solar power plants.
The drawback of such technologies is that these require
significant amounts of land, water and evacuation infrastructure and support
from mega-corporations.
However, renewable-based micro-grids can become an
important feature of electricity policy. Jharkhand, which has 249 remote
villages powered by solar microgrids, is now considering their use even in
villages that are already grid connected.
In the near future, entrepreneurs could make use of rapidly
lowering storage costs to build decentralised, neighbourhood-scale
micro-utilities, managed by locally owned enterprises and cooperatives.
4. Hybrid
Waste to Energy, water Recycling and Community Garden
With modern power electronics and innovations in hybrid waste to
energy, water recycling and community gardens could be integrated as standalone
modules that are connected to larger grids.
5. Sustainable
Land Management
Sustainable approaches to land are evident in cases such as
forest conservation in Mendha-Lekha village in Maharashtra and community
delivery of public services in Nagaland. These and several other instances are
documented in initiatives such as Vikalp Sangam.
Similarly, in a recent comment in Nature,
Harini Nagendra points out that India has for long had strongly rooted cultural
movements about living sustainably with land and its ecology that provide
practical models.
6. Agro-
Ecology Methods
Some research groups have recognised that agro-ecology methods
are best suited for increasing crop yield, raising profits, trapping soil
carbon, reducing dependence on fertilisers and pesticides. Successful models
are already effective on small scales in many States. Andhra Pradesh is
attempting to replicate widely one such approach, Zero Budget Natural Farming,
to all its farmers by 2024 with an expected savings of 2 million tonnes of
carbon dioxide per year. This is with 6 million farmers across 8 million
hectares. If similar methods were used for the entire country, the savings
would be substantial.
7. Creating
Isotropic Communities
In transport and urbanization, the challenge is to create
isotropic communities in the areas of the peri-urban, the rapidly expanding hinterland, which would have to be designed around
not cars but walking, cycling and sustainable neighbourhood vehicles.
Energy and livelihood gains from such alternative visions could
be far more significant than conventional ways of replacing fossil-fuelled
infrastructure with renewables. But they also involve a lot of
learning-by-doing, living laboratories and innovation, practice, patience and
support from government and academia.
Be ready for the future
The next round of state action plans on climate change now being
developed might begin with identifying successful development approaches
overlaid with expected climate impacts in each ecological zone.
Inclusion of Diversity among experts
Policymakers, with inputs from academia, community workers and
the public, could then work on how these would be repeated in other contexts
keeping climate impacts in mind.
Large investments are needed to make the
transitions in each sector that would take the country to a near zero-carbon
economy. But given the shortage of external support and the need for rapid
deployment, India will not be able to rely entirely on external funds. Some of
this could instead be financed through a ‘luxury’ carbon tax that curbs
non-essential consumption. Savings can also be expected from the economic and
social transformation itself.
Political pressure and activism across the globe may soon turn
the tide in other countries, but India needs to
begin now with its enormous untapped successes. We cannot be pressured from
outside, but need to change from within.
The Importance of Sustainable Development Goals
The most sensible way to deal with these complex challenges is to deepen and expand India’s commitment to the
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The synergies of meeting SDGs, reducing greenhouse gas emissions
and adapting to a changing climate can only be fully realized if transformative
and cross-scale changes are applied.
The scaling up needs the context-relevant modifications through
local and institutional innovation may be more appropriate for a country of
India’s size and ecological diversity.
The 1.5 Degree Celsius Report
The 1.5° C report calls for societal
transformation on a global scale that reflects the links, synergies and
trade-offs between mitigation, adaptation and sustainable development.
Recent events, however, show that we cannot ignore the forests,
urban water bodies, riverine ecosystems, waste management or groundwater as
these come back to bite us as floods, landslides, droughts and infectious
disease.
Comparing With China
While India is often mentioned along with China in
climate-related discussions as a large emerging economy, the two are very
different. India ranks 130 among nations in the Human Development Index, and
China ranks 86. In spite of remarkable recent improvements, India still has 364
million living in multidimensional poverty. Nearly a third (27.5%) are
multidimensionally poor and about a fifth (19.1%) are vulnerable to becoming
poor.
