Broadly speaking, there are four types of countries. One is large and rich; another is large and poor; a third is small and rich; and the fourth is small and poor.
The US is large and rich. China is large, poor and pretending to be rich. India is large, poor and trying to get rich. Switzerland is small and rich and likes it that way. And Somalia is small and poor and nuisance to everyone.
The question arises: in the era after the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648 and the emergence of the notion of nation-states, how should these countries conduct their foreign policy?
Very carefully, says Shyam Saran, who should know. Saran took courtesy in the face of stupidity to a new level.
The man
After all, he has been India’s foreign secretary. He has also been Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s Special Envoy for various odd jobs like the international negotiations of environment.
He has been an ambassador thrice. He has served in important countries such as Japan (small and rich) and Nepal (small and poor).
He has dealt with the US (large and rich) on Manmohan Singh’s pet project, the Indo-US nuclear deal which ended India’s pariah status. Saran has also headed the National Security Advisory Board.
And most recently he has headed a foreign policy think tank in New Delhi. Recently, he has become a life trustee of the India International Centre.
The book
Saran starts with a highly accessible discourse on dealing with other countries in general and how India has, and should, deal with them in particular. His central thesis is that where foreign policy is concerned, the Indian view is determined by its geography and history, both of which make it view the countries to the east and the west as a continuum, which has been interrupted by Partition.
Citing Kautilya and other such ancient thinkers he says unlike China, India doesn’t see itself as the centre of the universe. Instead, it sees itself as one amongst equals, a part of the Jambudweep – immortalised in the equivalent of our ancient GPS system, Jambudweepae, Bharatvarshe, Bharatkhande, Kaliyuge, Prathamapade, Yamuna teeray...
The calm and unhurried tone of this book suggests that governments should seek his counsel more often, for when you read this book you will see how rich it is in experience. Had Mr Modi done so from the start he might have avoided some major embarrassments with Pakistan and China.
It is also a treasure trove of anecdotes that give you terrific insights into how diplomacy and negotiations are conducted.
Thus, says Saran, Prime Minister Narasimha Rao told him that a good leader must be both ruthless and ascetic. It is easy to see how Mr Modi fulfils those requirements perfectly.
On another occasion, during the nuclear deal negotiations, President George W Bush told him about Manmohan Singh: “This man is my friend; you take good care of him.”
He also tells us about how American diplomats think diplomacy should be carried out — in a “listen you son of a……” mode. As we saw during the Doklam incident, the Chinese now think they can do the same.
India’s generally unflappable approach to such boorish behaviour has been very laudable. Saran gives many examples of this in his book.
Overall, he says, given how weak India’s hand has generally been, Indian diplomacy has been very successful. In any given period of ten years, it has got most of what it wanted.
Not just that. Barring China and Pakistan, it doesn’t have any real enemies, even in South Asia.
Dealing with Pakistan
Without explicitly stating it, Saran shares the general Indian view that Pakistan’s India policy is run by a bunch of nut cases in the army who just can’t get over the fact that they lost half their country in 1971 after a humiliating defeat by the Indian army. So revenge is the driving force, regardless of the way they take it.
There’s also Jinnah’s notion of parity. Pakistan genuinely believes it is exactly equal to India and this leads to its monkey see, monkey do behaviour.
India, meanwhile, obsesses over the possibility that these kooks, having broken their country once, may well oversee its disintegration again. That would be bad enough if Pakistan didn’t have nuclear weapons. But with them, it is a horrible prospect.
So net result: Pakistan harms us and we placate it. He concludes by saying that if Pakistan becomes too much of a bore, “we may have to adopt counter-constraint policies to attempt to change the strategic calculus in Islamabad. This may include the option of inflicting pain on Pakistan…”
In short, we are stuck with an irrational neighbour and must make the best of it.
Handling China
If Pakistan poses one sort of intractable problem China poses another sort, says Saran. But while we fully understand Pakistanis, we don’t understand the Chinese very much at all, not least the way the Chinese use deception and ambiguity in their utterances. He gives two telling examples of this, both dating back to Nehru.
Basically, says Saran, China views the rest of the world as subordinates. This sense of entitlement is something India must keep in mind while dealing with China.
But, he adds, while that may have been on in the past when China’s dealings with the rest of the world was limited, today in a globalised world with many middle powers “the Chinese perspective derived from its past is in contradiction to the prevailing reality.”
The US
In contrast to Pakistan and China, dealing with the US is almost a pleasure, Saran suggests. For one thing, even if they don’t always help, American governments at least don’t hate India (Pakistan) or treat it with contempt (China).
Saran gives an absolutely riveting account of how the Indo-US nuclear deal unfolded and was eventually signed. That was the crowning moment of Saran’s illustrious career.
To conclude, this is a MUST read book.
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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.