India committed both domestic and multilateral cooperation on climate change: Bhupender Yadav

Sharm-El Sheikh: India is committed to both domestic action and multilateral cooperation on climate change to fight all global environmental concerns, said the Union Minister for Environment Forest and Climate Change, Bhupender Yadav on the sideline of UN conference COP27.

The Minister said global warming also warns us that equity and international cooperation, leaving no one behind, hold the key to success, where those most fortunate must lead the way.

“No nation can undertake this journey alone. Right understanding, right thought and co-operative action these need to set our path for the next decisive half a century” he said while he was speaking in a session on Accelerating Resilient Infrastructure in Small Island Development States (SIDS).

The agenda of this session was to present the Infrastructure for Resilient Island States (IRIS) vision and announce the first ‘Call for Proposals’.

IRIS will be the first initiative that will be rolled out through the Infrastructure Resilience Accelerator Fund (IRAF), launched by the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) last week at COP 27.

Bhupender Yadav said, “Today we know that climate change is the most crucial of all other environmental challenges, adding that Without cumulative emissions in check, success with other environmental challenges, even if they are achieved, will not carry lasting value”.

IRIS is a flagship strategic initiative that has been designed as an instrument to achieve and deliver resilience and climate adaptation solutions to the SIDS, which are among the most vulnerable and exposed countries.

It was launched at the World Leaders Summit at COP26 by India, UK, Australia, Jamaica, Mauritius and Fiji. It is a joint platform to facilitate cross learning, sharing and engagement on solutions to infrastructure resilience in SIDS.

As per the IPCC’s AR6 reports India is among those countries with high vulnerability to climate change.

India, with over 7500 km of coastline and more than 1000 islands in the surrounding seas, and a large coastal population dependent on the sea for lives and livelihoods, is also a highly “vulnerable nation” on the global scale. As per report, between 1995 – 2020, India recorded 1058 climatic disaster events.