Parties to the historic Paris Accord on climate change signed in 2015 meet in Bonn next week, and their discussions will inevitably veer toward the Donald Trump-led US administration’s decision to exit the Accord. US is the second-largest greenhouse gas emitter in the world, in per capita terms as well as in absolute volumes. The upcoming summit takes place amid growing concerns that the US move may encourage other countries to abdicate their responsibility to rein in greenhouse gas emissions.
With the US withdrawal, all eyes will turn toward the moves China and India make. Although both emerging economies have relatively lower per capita emissions compared to developed economies, they still rank among the top three emitters in absolute volumes.
Shortly after taking charge as prime minister, Narendra Modi signalled a pivot to renewables as a major way in which India will seek to fight climate change. He set an ambitious target of setting up 100 gigawatts (GW) of solar capacity by 2022, which stood at just 4.3GW in 2015, on the eve of the Paris Accord.
So far, progress has been impressive but at 13GW of installed solar capacity in mid-2017, India has only reached a tenth of the target. And it is uncertain whether solar capacity will continue to grow at the same pace in the years ahead.
Nonetheless, India’s installed capacity to produce electricity from renewable energy sources—mainly wind and solar—currently stands at around 58GW, which is among the top five in the world. This excludes hydro power capacity.
Over the past two years, India has stepped up the overall share of renewables in its energy mix. India committed to raise the share of renewables in installed capacity to 40% by 2030 compared to 18% currently. Under its “Intended Nationally Determined Contributions” (INDC) commitments, India will seek to reduce its emissions-to-GDP ratio by 33-35% by 2030 from 2005 levels.
However, India has continued to add coal capacity over the last two years. Contrast this with the US, where installed capacity in coal fell almost 23GW or 8% between December 2015 and August 2017.
It is also worth noting that coal-based thermal power plants in India have declined in importance over the past few years partly because of commercial considerations. The pile of bad debt and overcapacity in the sector has made investments in new thermal power plants relatively unattractive. As these problems recede, coal might start looking attractive once again, at least from a commercial point of view. And given that coal remains the cheapest source of power, it will continue to be a tempting option for an emerging economy with a large power deficit. According to the International Energy Agency, 18% of India’s population did not have access to electricity in 2016.
A lot will depend on whether the growth in the renewable sector is sustained. At the moment, things do not look very bright for solar. The reverse auction system, where solar power development projects are awarded to the lowest bidders, has raised concerns over the sustainability of solar power companies. Too few solar projects and too many solar companies have pushed companies to bid aggressively for low tariff rates, raising concerns about their balance sheets. SunEdison, a US solar giant with interests in India, filed for bankruptcy last year.
Solar tariff rates have fallen significantly in India, prompting states to try and renege on offtake commitments that had been negotiated at higher rates earlier. Capacity utilization in solar is also low (around 20%) as opposed to coal (about 60%) owing to the challenge of storage of energy and grid integration.
The uncertainties in the renewable space could prompt a rethink on India’s energy mix, and make India renegotiate the commitments made two years ago. It remains to be seen whether India signals that shift at Bonn, or chooses to stay the course for now.
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- Lowering Emissions by Accelerating Forest Finance (LEAF) Coalition, a collective of the United States, United Kingdom and Norway governments, came up with a $1 billion fund.
- LEAF is supported by transnational corporations (TNCs) like Unilever plc, Amazon.com, Inc, Nestle, Airbnb, Inc as well as Emergent, a US-based non-profit.
- The world lost more than 10 million hectares of primary tropical forest cover last year, an area roughly the size of Switzerland.
- Ending tropical and subtropical forest loss by 2030 is a crucial part of meeting global climate, biodiversity and sustainable development goals. Protecting tropical forests offers one of the biggest opportunities for climate action in the coming decade.
- Tropical forests are massive carbon sinks and by investing in their protection, public and private players are likely to stock up on their carbon credits.
- The LEAF coalition initiative is a step towards concretising the aims and objectives of the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) mechanism.
- REDD+ was created by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It monetised the value of carbon locked up in the tropical forests of most developing countries, thereby propelling these countries to help mitigate climate change.
- It is a unique initiative as it seeks to help developing countries in battling the double-edged sword of development versus ecological commitment.
- The initiative comes at a crucial time. The tropics have lost close to 12.2 million hectares (mha) of tree cover last year according to global estimates released by Global Forest Watch.
- Of this, a loss of 4.2 mha occurred within humid tropical primary forests alone. It should come as no surprise that most of these lost forests were located in the developing countries of Latin America, Africa and South Asia.
- Brazil has fared dismally on the parameter of ‘annual primary forest loss’ among all countries. It has lost 1.7 mha of primary forests that are rich storehouse of carbon. India’s estimated loss in 2020 stands at 20.8 kilo hectares.
- Between 2002-2020, Brazil’s total area of humid primary forest reduced by 7.7 per cent while India’s reduced by 3.4 per cent.
- Although the loss in India is not as drastic as in Brazil, its position is nevertheless precarious. For India, this loss is equivalent to 951 metric tonnes worth carbon dioxide emissions released in the atmosphere.
- It is important to draw comparisons between Brazil and India as both countries have adopted a rather lackadaisical attitude towards deforestation-induced climate change. The Brazilian government hardly did anything to control the massive fires that gutted the Amazon rainforest in 2019.
- It is mostly around May that forest fires peak in India. However, this year India, witnessed massive forest fires in early March in states like Odisha, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Mizoram among others.
- The European Union’s Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service claimed that 0.2 metric tonnes of carbon was emitted in the Uttarakhand forest fires.
- Implementation of the LEAF Coalition plan will help pump in fresh rigour among developing countries like India, that are reluctant to recognise the contributions of their forest dwelling populations in mitigating climate change.
- With the deadline for proposal submission fast approaching, India needs to act swiftly on a revised strategy.
- Although India has pledged to carry out its REDD+ commitments, it is impossible to do so without seeking knowledge from its forest dwelling population.
Context:-
At the recently concluded Leaders’ Summit on Climate in April 2021, Lowering Emissions by Accelerating Forest Finance (LEAF) Coalition, a collective of the United States, United Kingdom and Norway governments, came up with a $1 billion fund plan that shall be offered to countries committed to arrest the decline of their tropical forests by 2030.
[wptelegram-join-channel link=”https://t.me/s/upsctree” text=”Join @upsctree on Telegram”]What is LEAF Coalition?
Why LEAF Coalition?
Brazil & India
According to the UN-REDD programme, after the energy sector, deforestation accounts for massive carbon emissions — close to 11 per cent — in the atmosphere. Rapid urbanisation and commercialisation of forest produce are the main causes behind rampant deforestation across tropical forests.
Tribes, Forests and Government
Disregarding climate change as a valid excuse for the fires, Indian government officials were quick to lay the blame for deforestation on activities of forest dwellers and even labelled them “mischievous elements” and “unwanted elements”.
Policy makers around the world have emphasised the role of indigenous tribes and local communities in checking deforestation. These communities depend on forests for their survival as well as livelihood. Hence, they understand the need to protect forests. However, by posing legitimate environmental concerns as obstacles to real development, governments of developing countries swiftly avoid protection of forests and rights of forest dwellers.
For instance, the Government of India has not been forthcoming in recognising the socio-economic, civil, political or even cultural rights of forest dwellers. According to data from the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs in December, 2020 over 55 per cent of this population has still not been granted either individual or community ownership of their lands.
To make matters worse, the government has undertaken systematic and sustained measures to render the landmark Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 ineffective in its implementation. The Act had sought to legitimise claims of forest dwellers on occupied forest land.
Various government decisions have seriously undermined the position of indigenous people within India. These include proposing amendments to the obsolete Indian Forest Act, 1927 that give forest officials the power to take away forest dwellers’ rights and to even use firearms with impunity.
There is also the Supreme Court’s order of February, 2019 directing state governments to evict illegal encroachers of forest land or millions of forest dwellers inhabiting forests since generations as a measure to conserve wildlife. Finally, there is the lack of data on novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) deaths among the forest dwelling population;
Tardy administration, insufficient supervision, apathetic attitude and a lack of political intent defeat the cause of forest dwelling populations in India, thereby directly affecting efforts at arresting deforestation.
Way Forward
Tuntiak Katan, a global indigenous leader from Ecuador and general coordinator of the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities, aptly indicated the next steps at the Climate Summit:
“The first step is recognition of land rights. The second step is the recognition of the contributions of local communities and indigenous communities, meaning the contributions of indigenous peoples.We also need recognition of traditional knowledge practices in order to fight climate change”
Perhaps India can begin by taking the first step.