(Study Material for IPS LCE) Environment: National Initiatives

Introduction

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is an important management tool for ensuring optimal use of natural resources for sustainable development. A beginning in this direction was made in our country with the impact assessment of river valley projects in 1978-79 and the scope has subsequently been enhanced to cover other developmental sectors such as industries, thermal power projects, mining schemes etc. To facilitate collection of environmental data and preparation of management plans, guidelines have been evolved and circulated to the concerned Central and State Government Departments. EIA has now been made mandatory under the Environmental (Protection Act, 1986 for 29 categories of developmental activities involving investments of Rs. 50 crores and above.

Environmental Appraisal Committees

With a view to ensure multi-disciplinary input required for environmental appraisal of development projects, Expert Committees have been constituted for the following sectors:
• Mining Projects
• Industrial Projects
• Thermal Power Projects
• River Valley, Multipurpose, Irrigation and H.E. Projects
• Infrastructure Development and Miscellaneous Projects
• Nuclear Power Projects

Environmental Appraisal Procedure

Once an application has been submitted by a project authority alongwith all the requisite documents specified in the EIA Notification, it is scrutinised by the technical staff of the Ministry prior to placing it before the Environmental Appraisal Committees. The Appraisal Committees evaluate the impact of the project based on the data furnished by the project authorities and if necessary, site visits or on-the-spot assessment of various environmental aspects are also undertaken. Based on such examination, the Committees make recommendations for approval or rejection of the project, which are then processed in the Ministry for approval or rejection.
In case of site specific projects such as Mining, River Valley, Ports and Harbours etc., a two stage clearance procedure has been adopted whereby the project authorities have to obtain site clearance before applying for environmental clearance of their projects. This is to ensure avoiding areas which are ecologically fragile and environmentally sensitive. In case of projects where complete information has been submitted by the project proponents, a decision is taken within 90 days.

Monitoring

After considering all the facets of a project, environmental clearance is accorded subject to implementation of the stipulated environmental safeguards. Monitoring of cleared projects is undertaken by the six regional offices of the Ministry functioning at Shillong, Bhubaneshwar, Chandigarh, Bangalore, Lucknow and Bhopal. The primary objective of such a procedure is to ensure adequacy of the suggested safeguards and also to undertake mid-course corrections required, if any. The procedure adopted for monitoring is as follows: • Project authorities are required to report every six months on the progress of implementation of the conditions/safeguards stipulated, while according clearance to the project.
• Field visits of officers and expert teams from the Ministry and/ or its Regional Offices are undertaken to collect and analyse performance data of development projects, so that difficulties encountered are discussed with the proponents with a view to finding solutions.
• In case of substantial deviations and poor or no response, the matter is taken up with the concerned State Government.
• Changes in scope of project are identified to check whether review of earlier decision is called for or not.

Coastal Area Management

Coastal States/UTs are required to prepare Coastal Zone Management Plans (CZMPs) as per the provisions of the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Notification 1991, identifying and categorising the coastal areas for different activities and submit it to the Ministry for approval.

The Ministry has constituted a Task Force for examination of these plans submitted by Maharashtra and Gujarat States have been discussed in the meetings of the Task Force and these need to be modified. The Government of Orissa has submitted a partial plan covering only a part of their coastal area. In respect of West Bengal, a preliminary concept document of the CZMP has been submitted. Revised CZMP/clarifications have been received from the State of Goa and UTs of Daman & Diu, Lakshadweep and Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

During the year, the Task Force had seven meetings and two site visits for consideration of the plans. Once the plans of the different States/UTs are finalised, the development activities in the coastal belt would be more forcefully regulated to ensure non-violation of CRZ Notification.

Island Development Authority (IDA)

The 9th meeting of IDA was held on 22.1.96 under the Chairmanship of the Prime Minister to decide on various policies and programmes aimed at integrated development of the islands, keeping in view the relevent aspects of environmental protection, and also to review the progress of implementation and impact of the programmes of development.

Studies on Carrying Capacity

Natural resources are finite and are dwindling at a fast pace. Optimization of natural resources for achieving the objective of sustainable development is therefore, self evidents, this can be done only when environmental considerations are internalized in the development process. It has often been observed that one or more natural resource(s) becomes a limiting resource in a given region thereby restricting the scope of development portfolios. The Ministry of Environment & Forests has been sponsoring Carrying Capacity Studies for different regions. The studies involve:
• Inventorisation of the natural resources available;
• Preparation of the existing environmental settings;
• Perspective plans and their impact on natural resources through creation of “Business As Usual Scenario”;
• Identification of “Hot Spots” requiring immediate remedial action to overcome air, water or land pollution;
• Formulation of alternative development scenarios including a Preferred Scenarios. A comparison between “Business As Usual” and the “Preferred Scenario” would indicate the future course of action to be adopted for development of the region after the package has been discussed with the local people as well as the planners.

A few problem areas such as the Doon Valley - an ecologically sensitive area, the National Capital Region (NCR) which is suffering from air and water pollution as well as congestion, Damodar River Basin which is very rich in natural resources and yet has extensive environmental degradation and Tapi estuary which represents the problems in the coastal region both for water and land development, have been selected for carrying out such studies.

A multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional approach has been adopted for conducting these studies. Draft reports are ready for Doon Valley and the NCR and are being discussed with the NGOs and the local people for finalising the same. Work relating to Damodar Basin and Tapi Estuary is continuing with respect to secondary data collection and analysis so as to identify the requirements of primary data collection and modification in the development scenarios.

THE GREEN DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE (GDI) aims to establish a biodiversity standard and certification scheme for land management. The standard is based on the objectives and approaches of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and will be used to certify areas which are managed for conservation and development. GDI certification will facilitate the allocation of resources needed for preserving threatened biodiversity or restoring degraded biodiversity.

Board

The GDI Board is international and includes representatives from governments, the private sector and NGOs. Its role is to set the overall direction of the Initiative and the review its work programmes. These work programmes include potential and current GDI pilot projects as well as the creation and development of the certification modalities. The first Board meeting took place on the 27th May 2011.

Advisory Group

The GDI Advisory Group was set up in April 2011. Currently the Advisory is made up of 27 members, all of which are experienced in the domain of sustainability, biodiversity, finance and business. The group uses their expertise to advise and council the GDI Secretariat on the development of work programmes and certification modalities.

Secretariat

Earthmind serves as the Secretariat for the Initiative. Work is undertaken by a team of professional consultants and junior associates. Core funding comes from the Biodiversity Policy Programme of the Government of the Netherlands.

Phase I: GDM 2010 Initiative

The GDM 2010 Initiative began in 2009 with aim of bringing forward a discussion on a new financial mechanism for biodiversity at the 10th Conference of the Parties of the (COP 10). The Conference took place in October 2010 in Nagoya, Japan. The aim of the Initiative was to explore the possibility of establishing a mechanism which would be voluntary, transparent and accountable so as to secure additional financial resources from the private sector for biodiversity.
During Phase 1, extensive consultations were undertaken. Key events which included papers and presentations on the idea of a green development mechanism included:

1st Expert Meeting on a Green Development Mechanism

This meeting, hosted by the Dutch Government in February 2009, invited a group of biodiversity and conservation experts to discuss options for building markets which seek to implement international conservation obligations. The meeting concluded that there is a need for a mechanism on an international level to recognise and compensate for the costs of biodiversity protection. It was noted that the issues raised should be put forward as a GDM proposal.

3rd Business & Biodiversity Conference

During the 3rd CBD/UNEP Business & Biodiversity Conference held in Jakarta in December 2009, private sector finance was a key subject. In support of this discussion, the GDM 2010 Initiative organised a side event to explore the idea of a green development mechanism. An outcome of the conference was the “Jakarta Declaration” which includes explicit support for a Green Development Mechanism.

1st International Workshop on Innovative Financial Mechanisms

This CBD/UNEP TEEB expert workshop, held during January 2010 in Bonn, looked into the development of new financial mechanisms in terms of the CBD Strategy for Resource Mobilisation. The workshop resulted in a consensus that with further work a new international mechanism (GDM) could be used both as a way of building supplementary resources and as a way of providing further backbone to continuing schemes and new initiatives.

2nd Expert Meeting, on a Green Development Mechanism

This meeting was organised by Earthmind on behalf of the GDM 2010 Initiative Steering Committee and the Dutch Government and was held during February 2010 in Bali. It focused on the experiences and perspectives of developing countries in order to advise on possible modalities of a GDM. Key recommendations included focusing resource utilisation on verifiable biodiversity-responsible land management and establishing a GDM standard.

Preparatory CBD meetings

In the build-up to the 10th Conference of the Parties (COP10), two of the central preparatory meetings took place in Nairobi in May 2010. For SBSTTA14 (the 14th meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice) a side event explored the challenges and opportunities involved in creating a GDM which could support CBD targets. For WGRI3 (the 3rd meeting of the Working Group on Review of Implementation of the Convention) a side event focused on business engagement in the quest to develop an innovative international financial mechanism. In the WGRI3 deliberations, the Parties agreed on a draft decision on innovative financial mechanism which included reference to the GDM.

CBD COP10

During COP10 in October 2010 which was held in Nagoya, the GDM 2010 Initiative held two side events to brief Parties and delegates about the proposal for having a global discussion on a green development mechanism in the context of their negotiations on innovative financial mechanisms. In the end, the Parties were unable to complete their negotiations on this topic and no decision was reached. Nevertheless, key decisions from COP10 provided further support for continuing work on a new mechanism for green development, particularly with the adoption of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and the Aichi Biodiversity Targets.

Phase II: Green Development Initiative

Following the consultations leading up to CBD COP10 in October 2010, a new phase was launched to develop and text a promising modalities for a green development mechanism. The focus of the Green Development Initiative (GDI) is to establish a biodiversity standard and certification scheme for land management which will facilitate financial support for conservation and development action on the ground.
In many ways the GDI shares the same ethos as UNEP’s Green Economy Initiative (GEI), which is “a project designed to communicate that the greening of economies is not a burden on growth but rather a new engine for growth, employment, and the reduction of persistent global poverty.” In this respect, the GDI is aiming to certify positive biodiversity outcomes in terms of conservation and development for geographically-defined areas.
Importantly, the GDI is not envisioned as a compliance mechanism to offset environmental impacts, but rather as a verification mechanism to recognise good environmental performance. It seeks to allow companies and other organisations to responsibly manage their own land by satisfying relevant biodiversity performance indicators and also to support the efforts of others to implement biodiversity management plans for their lands.
In 2011, the GDI is developing its standard and certification scheme through a number of pilot projects representing a diversity of landscapes and land uses. These in include responsible soy farming in Brazil, cocoa and timber production in Ghana, and community based natural resource management in Namibia.

The GDI Biodiversity Standard

The GDI Biodiversity Standard is aimed at the management of geographically-defined locations. Its foundations are derived from the objectives and definitions of the CBD. The Biodiversity Standard aims to offer an all-encompassing standard for biodiversity management which is suitable for any geographical area in locations all over the globe. It focuses on four core components of biodiversity: landscapes, ecosystems, species and habitats, and biological resources. The actions to be undertaken in a biodiversity management need to address four objectives: conservation of biodiversity; sustainable use of biological resources; equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of this use; and economic and social development.

Overview

India is faced with the challenge of sustaining its rapid economic growth while dealing with the glob­al threat of climate change. This threat emanates from accumulated greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere, anthropogenically generated through long-term and intensive industrial growth and high consumption lifestyles in developed countries. While engaged with the international community to collec­tively and cooperatively deal with this threat, India needs a national strategy to firstly, adapt to climate change and secondly, to further enhance the ecolog­ical sustainability of India’s development path.
Climate change may alter the distribution and quality of India’s natural resources and adverse­ly affect the livelihood of its people. With an econo­my closely tied to its natural resource base and cli­mate-sensitive sectors such as agriculture, water and forestry, India may face a major threat because of the projected changes in climate.
India’s development path is based on its unique resource endowments, the overriding priori­ty of economic and social development and poverty eradication, and its adherence to its civilizational legacy that places a high value on the environment and the maintenance of ecological balance.
In charting out a developmental pathway which is ecologically sustainable, India has a wider spectrum of choices precisely because it is at an earlystage of development. Our vision is to create a pros­perous, but not wasteful society, an economy that is self-sustaining in terms of its ability to unleash the creative energies of our people and is mindful of our responsibilities to both present and future genera­tions.
Recognizing that climate change is a global challenge, India will engage actively in multilateral negotiations in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, in a positive, constructive and for­ward-looking manner. Our objective will be to establish an effective, cooperative and equitable global approach based on the principle of common but differentiated responsibilites and respective capabilities, enshrined in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Such an approach must be based on a global vision inspired by Mahatma Gandhi’s wise dic­tum—The earth has enough resources to meet peo­ple’s needs, but will never have enough to satisfy people’s greed. Thus we must not only promote sus­tainable production processes, but equally, sustain­able lifestyles across the globe.
Finally, our approach must also be compati­ble with our role as a responsible and enlightened member of the international community, ready to make our contribution to the solution of a global challenge, which impacts on humanity as a whole. The success of our national efforts would be signifi­cantly enhanced provided the developed countries affirm their responsibility for accumulated green­house gas emissions and fulfill their commitments under the UNFCCC, to transfer new and additional financial resources and climate friendly technologies to support both adaptation and mitigation in devel­oping countries.
• Effecting implementation of programmes through unique linkages, including with civil society and local government institutions and through public­private-pa rtnersh i p.
• Welcoming international cooperation for research, development, sharing and transfer of technologies enabled by additional funding and a global IPR regime that facilitates technology transfer to developing countries under the UNFCCC. Maintaining a high growth rate is essential for increasing living standards of the vast majority of our people and reducing their vulnerability to the impacts of climate change. In order to achieve a sus­tainable development path that simultaneously advances economic and environmental objectives, the National Action Plan for Climate Change (NAPCC) will be guided by the following principles:
• Protecting the poor and vulnerable sections of society through an inclusive and sustainable devel­opment strategy, sensitive to climate change.
• Achieving national growth objectives through a qualitative change in direction that enhances eco­logical sustainability, leading to further mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions.
• Devising efficient and cost-effective strategies for end use Demand Side Management.
• Deploying appropriate technologies for both adaptation and mitigation of greenhouse gases e­missions extensively as well as at an accelerated pace.
• Engineering new and innovative forms of market, regulatory and voluntary mechanisms to promote
The NAPCC addresses the urgent and critical con­cerns of the country through a directional shift in the development pathway, including through the enhancement of the current and planned pro­grammes presented in the Technical Document. The National Action Plan on Climate Change identifies measures that promote our development objectives while also yielding co-benefits for address­ing climate change effectively. It outlines a number of steps to simultaneously advance India’s develop­ment and climate change-related objectives of adap­tation and mitigation.

The Way Forward: Eight National Missions

In dealing with the challenge of climate change we must act on several fronts in a focused manner simul­taneously. The National Action Plan hinges on the development and use of new technologies. The implementation of the Plan would be through appropriate institutional mechanisms suited for effective delivery of each individual Mission’s objec­tives and include public private partnerships and civil society action. The focus will be on promoting understanding of climate change, adaptation and mitigation, energy efficiency and natural resource conservation. There are Eight National Missions which form the core of the National Action Plan, represent­ing multi-pronged, long-term and integrated strate­gies for achieving key goals in the context of climate change. While several of these programmes are already part of our current actions, they may need a change in direction, enhancement of scope and effectiveness and accelerated implementation of time-bound plans.

National Solar Mission

A National Solar Mission will be launched to signifi­cantly increase the share of solar energy in the total energy mix while recognizing the need to expand the scope of other renewable and non-fossil options such as nuclear energy, wind energy and biomass. India is a tropical country, where sunshine is available for longer hours per day and in great inten­sity. Solar energy, therefore, has great potential as future energy source. It also has the advantage of permitting a decentralized distribution of energy, thereby empowering people at the grassroots level. Photovoltaic cells are becoming cheaper with new technology. There are newer, reflector-based tech­nologies that could enable setting up megawatt scale solar power plants across the country. Another aspect of the Solar Mission would be to launch a major R&D programme, which could draw upon international cooperation as well, to enable the cre­ation of more affordable, more convenient solar power systems, and to promote innovations that enable the storage of solar power for sustained, long-term use.

National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency

The Energy Conservation Act of 2001 provides a legal mandate for the implementation of the energy effi­ciency measures through the institutional mecha­nism of the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) in the Central Government and designated agencies in each state. A number of schemes and programmes have been initiated and it is anticipated that these would result in a saving of 10,000 MW by the end of 11th Five Year Plan in 2012.
To enhance energy efficiency, four new ini­tiatives will be put in place. These are:
• A market based mechanism to enhance cost effec­tiveness of improvements in energy efficiency in energy-intensive large industries and facilities, through certification of energy savings that could be traded.
• Accelerating the shift to energy efficient appliances in designated sectors through innovative measures to make the products more affordable.
• Creation of mechanisms that would help finance demand side management programmes in all sectors by capturing future energy savings.
• Developing fiscal instruments to promote energy efficiency

National Mission on Sustainable Habitat

A National Mission on Sustainable Habitat will be launched to make habitat sustainable through improvements in energy efficiency in buildings, man­agement of solid waste and modal shift to public transport. The Mission will promote energy efficien­cy as an integral component of urban planning and urban renewal through three initiatives.
i. The Energy Conservation Building Code, which addresses the design of new and large com­mercial buildings to optimize their energy demand, will be extended in its application and incentives pro­vided for retooling existing building stock.
ii. Recycling of material and Urban Waste Management will be a major component of ecologi­cally sustainable economic development. India already has a significantly higher rate of recycling of waste compared to developed countries. A special area of focus will be the development of technology for producing power from waste. The National Mission will include a major R&D programme, focus­ing on bio chemical conversion, waste water use, sewage utilization and recycling options wherever possible.
iii. Better urban planning and modal shift to public transport. Making long term transport plans will facilitate the growth of medium and small cities in ways that ensure efficient and convenient public transport.
In addition, the Mission will address the need to adapt to future climate change by improving the resilience of infrastructure, community based disas­ter management, and measures for improving the warning system for extreme weather events. Capacity building would be an important component of this Mission.

National Water Mission

A National Water Mission will be mounted to ensure integrated water resource management helping to conserve water, minimize wastage and ensure more equitable distribution both across and within states. The Mission will take into account the provisions of the National Water Policy and develop a framework to optimize water use by increasing water use effi­ciency by 20% through regulatory mechanisms with differential entitlements and pricing. It will seek to ensure that a considerable share of the water needs of urban areas are met through recycling of waste water, and ensuring that the water requirements of coastal cities with inadequate alternative sources of water are met through adoption of new and appro­priate technologies such as low temperature desali­nation technologies that allow for the use of ocean water.
The National Water Policy would be revisited in consultation with states to ensure basin level man­agement strategies to deal with variability in rainfall and river flows due to climate change. This will include enhanced storage both above and below ground, rainwater harvesting, coupled with equi­table and efficient management structures. The Mission will seek to develop new regula­tory structures, combined with appropriate entitle­ments and pricing. It will seek to optimize the effi­ciency of existing irrigation systems, including reha­bilitation of systems that have been run down andalso expand irrigation, where feasible, with a special effort to increase storage capacity. Incentive struc­tures will be designed to promote water-neutral or water-positive technologies, recharging of under­ground water sources and adoption of large scale irrigation programmes which rely on sprinklers, drip irrigation and ridge and furrow irrigation.

National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem

A Mission for sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem will be launched to evolve management measures for sustaining and safeguarding the Himalayan gla­cier and mountain eco-system. Himalayas, being the source of key perennial rivers, the Mission would, inter-alia, seek to understand, whether and the extent to which, the Himalayan glaciers are in reces­sion and how the problem could be addressed. This will require the joint effort of climatologists, glaciol­ogists and other experts. We will need to exchange information with the South Asian countries and countries sharing the Himalayan ecology.
An observational and monitoring network for the Himalayan environment will also be estab­lished to assess freshwater resources and health of the ecosystem. Cooperation with neighbouring countries will be sought to make the network com­prehensive in its coverage.
The Himalayan ecosystem has 51 million peo­ple who practice hill agriculture and whose vulnera­bility is expected to increase on account of climate change. Community-based management of these ecosystems will be promoted with incentives to com­munity organizations and panchayats for protection and enhancement of forested lands. In mountainous regions, the aim will be to maintain two-thirds of the area under forest cover in order to prevent erosion and land degradation and ensure the stability of the fragile eco-system.

National Mission for a Green India

A National Mission will be launched to enhance eco­system services including carbon sinks to be called Green India. Forests play an indispensable role in the preservation of ecological balance and maintenance of bio-diversity. Forests also constitute one of the most effective carbon-sinks.
The Prime Minister has already announced a Green India campaign for the afforestation of 6 mil­lion hectares. The national target of area under for­est and tree cover is 33% while the current area under forests is 23%.
The Mission on Green India will be taken up on degraded forest land through direct action by communities, organized through Joint Forest Management Committees and guided by the Departments of Forest in state governments. An ini­tial corpus of over Rs 6000 crore has been earmarked for the programme through the Compensatory Afforestaion Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) to commence work. The programme will be scaled up to cover all remaining degraded forest land. The institutional arrangement provides for using the corpus to leverage more funds to scale up activity.

National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture

The Mission would devise strategies to make Indian agriculture more resilient to climate change. It would identify and develop new varieties of crops and especially thermal resistant crops and alternative cropping patterns, capable of withstanding extremes of weather, long dry spells, flooding, and variable moisture availability.
Agriculture will need to be progressively adapted to projected climate change and our agri­cultural research systems must be oriented to moni­tor and evaluate climate change and recommend changes in agricultural practices accordingly. This will be supported by the convergence and integration of traditional knowledge and prac­tice systems, information technology, geospatial technologies and biotechnology. New credit and insurance mechanisms will be devised to facilitate adoption of desired practices. Focus would be on improving productivity of rainfed agriculture. India will spearhead efforts at the international level to work towards an ecologi­cally sustainable green revolution.

National Mission on Strategic Knowledge for Climate Change

To enlist the global community in research and tech­nology development and collaboration through mechanisms including open source platforms, a Strategic Knowledge Mission will be set up to identi­fy the challenges of, and the responses to, climate change. It would ensure funding of high quality and focused research into various aspects of climate change. The Mission will also have, on its research agenda, socio-economic impacts of climate change including impact on health, demography, migration patterns and livelihoods of coastal communities. It would also support the establishment of dedicated climate change related academic units in Universities and other academic and scientific research institu­tions in the country which would be networked. A Climate Science Research Fund would be created under the Mission to support research. Private sector initiatives for development of innovative technolo­gies for adaptation and mitigation would be encour­aged through venture capital funds. Research to support policy and implementation would be under­taken through identified centres. The Mission will also focus on dissemination of new knowledge based on research findings.

Implementation of Missions

These National Missions will be institutionalized by respective ministries and will be organized through inter-sectoral groups which include in addition to related Ministries, Ministry of Finance and the Planning Commission, experts from industry, acade­mia and civil society. The institutional structure would vary depending on the task to be addressed by the Mission and will include providing the oppor­tunity to compete on the best management model.
Each Mission will be tasked to evolve specif­ic objectives spanning the remaining years of the 11th Plan and the 12th Plan period 2012-13 to 2016­17. Where the resource requirements of the Mission call for an enhancement of the allocation in the 11th Plan, this will be suitably considered, keeping in mind the overall resources position and the scope for re-prioritisation. Comprehensive Mission documents detailing objectives, strategies, plan of action, timelines and monitoring and evaluation criteria would be devel­oped and submitted to the Prime Minister’s Council on Climate Change by December 2008. The Council will also periodically review the progress of these Missions. Each Mission will report publicly on its annual performance. Building public awareness will be vital in supporting implementation of the NAPCC. This will be achieved through national portals, media engagement, civil society involvement, curricula reform and recognition/ awards, details of which will be worked out by an empowered group. The Group will also consider methods of capacity building to support the goals of the National Missions. We will develop appropriate technologies to measure progress in actions being taken in terms of avoided emissions, wherever applicable, with refer­ence to business as usual scenarios. Appropriate indi­cators will be evolved for assessing adaptation bene­fits of the actions.
These Eight National Missions, taken together, with enhancements in current and ongoing programmes included in the Technical Document, would not only assist the country to adapt to climate change, but also, importantly, launch the economy on a path that would progressively and substantially result in miti­gation through avoided emissions.

Institutional Arrangements for Managing Climate Change Agenda

In order to respond effectively to the challenge of cli­mate change, the Government has created an Advisory Council on Climate Change, chaired by the Prime Minister. The Council has broad based repre­sentation from key stake-holders, including Government, Industry and Civil Society and sets out broad directions for National Actions in respect of Climate Change. The Council will also provide guid­ance on matters relating to coordinated national action on the domestic agenda and review of the implementation of the National Action Plan on Climate Change including its R&D agenda.
The Council chaired by the Prime Minister would also provide guidance on matters relating to international negotiations including bilateral, multi­lateral programmes for collaboration, research and development. Details of the institutional arrange­ment are at Annexure 1. The NAPCC will continue to evolve, based on new scientific and technical knowledge as they emerge and in response to the evolution of the mul­tilateral climate change regime including arrange­ments

The Indian Network on Climate Change Assessment (INCCA) was launched in October 2009 by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) in an effort to promote domestic research on climate change, and build on the country’s climate change expertise. This network of over 220 scientists from 120 premier research institutions in the country, is aimed at bringing in more science-based policy-making, based on measurements, monitoring and modelling.
The INCCA will carry out research on the effects of climate change in different regions and sectors in India and suggest suitable adaptation and mitigation steps.  The first publication to come out from the INCCA has been an updated greenhouse gas emissions inventory for India for the year 2007. The last GHG inventory was done in 1994, as part of India’s first National Communications for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The objective behind setting up INCCA was to have an independent body of Indian scientists who could “prepare scientific reports at the domestic level about the impact of climate change on various sectors, which can give a real picture and influence the world debate” according to Environment Minister, Jairam Ramesh.Reports prepared by the INCCA will form a part of India’s National Communication (Nat Com) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). National Workshop of the Indian Network for Climate Change Assessment (INCCA)
The Ministry of Environment & Forests is organizing a National Workshop of the Indian Network for Climate Change Assessment (INCCA) to release an Assessment of the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emission 2007.The Ministry of Environment and Forests has prepared this under the aegis of INCCA. 
Shri Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission will address the concluding session. Shri Jairam Ramesh, Minister of state for Environment and Forests, Shri Vijai Sharma, Secretary and Dr Subodh K Sharma ,Adviser will also address the session. be participating in the deliberations of the Workshop. Please find enclosed the Provisional Programme. 
INCAA was launched on October 14, 2009 at a National Workshop on Climate Change in India towards preparation of a comprehensive Climate Change Assessment. INCAA has been visualized as a network based programme mandated to undertake programmes of Climate Change Assessment and in this connection had announced that the Ministry during 2010 will bring out two Assessments, namely Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emission for the year 2007 and a 4 X 4 Assessment of impacts of Climate Change on four sectors namely, Agriculture, Water, Natural Eco-system and Health will be included in it. They will cover four regions – Himalayan, Northeastern, Coastal and Western Ghats regions. The Ministry has been engaged in the preparation of these Assessments and the first Assessment on the GHG Emission 2007 for the sectors such as Energy; Industry; Agriculture; Land-use, change and wastes is now ready for release. 
The Assessment has been prepared by scientists and experts belonging to various institutions countrywide as an INCCA Network on GHG Emissions. At the workshop, presentations on GHG Emissions will be made by the participating Scientists/ Experts. 
Assessment will cover various aspects of emission like emission from industry, agriculture Land-use, Land-use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) sectors. Papers will be presented on emission from electricity generation, transport, residential and commercial sector, coal mining and handling, cement, other industries, rice cultivation, soil and burning of crop residue, livestock, etc. Estimation of Carbon Stock in Indian Forests, use of remote sensing techniques for land categorization, municipal solid waste, industrial and domestic waste water will also be discussed. Participants will be from Central Institute Mining and Fuel Research, Dhanbad, Central Road Research Institute, New Delhi, The Energy Resources Institute, New Delhi, Cement Manufacturing Association, Delhi, Confederation of Indian Industries, New Delhi, Indian Agriculture Research Institute, New Delhi, National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, Indian Institute of Sciences, Bangalore, National Remote Sensing Agency and National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Nagpur. 

The National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources has its Headquarters at New Delhi, located at latitude of 28° 35’ N, longitude of 70° 18’ E and an altitude of 226 m above mean sea level. NBPGR functions under the administrative control of the Crop Science Division of the ICAR. The Bureau draws guidelines from the Crop Science Division of ICAR, Bureau’s Management Committee, Research Advisory Committee and Germplasm Advisory Committees.
The Bureau has four Divisions, two units, three cells and an experimental farm at its Headquarters in New Delhiand 10 regional/ base stations located in different phyto-geographical zones of India. Besides this, a National Research Centre on DNA fingerprinting and an All India Coordinated Research Project on Under-utilized Crops are also located at the Bureau.
Plant Exploration and Collection Division has the objectives to plan, coordinate and conduct explorations for collecting germplasm. Germplasm Evaluation Division is entrusted with the prime responsibility of characterization and evaluation of all the indigenous and exotic germplasm collections for their field performance and other important traits like resistance to biotic/ abiotic stresses and phytochemical attributes along with maintenance and regeneration. This division has an experimental farm located at Issapur about 45 km from the main campus covering an area of 40 ha. Germplasm Conservation Division is vested with the task of conservation of germplasm of various crop plants, and to undertake basic research on various aspects of seed storage and longevity. Plant Quarantine Division has the power vested by Plant Protection Advisor to the Government of India, under the Plant Quarantine (Regulation of Import into India) Order 2003 under the Destructive Insects and Pests Act (1914), to carry out quarantine of the plant germplasm imported for research purposes. It also undertakes the quarantine of material under export and issues the phytosanitary certificate. Germplasm Exchange Unit has the responsibility of introducing genetic resources of diverse crop plants and their wild relatives and distributing the same within the country, and also exports the germplasm. There is also a Tissue Culture and Cryopreservation Unit, with the main objective to conserve economic plants, for which conventional methods of storage are unsuccessful or inadequate, through in vitro and cryopreservation techniques. In addition, the Bureau has three cells, namely PGR Policy, Agriculture Research Information System and Technical Cell.
The NRCDF has facilities for molecular fingerprinting of released varieties and genetic stocks of crop plants of India. It has the objectives of standardization of molecular marker systems for DNA profiling and their application in variety identification. The NBPGR Headquarters, along with the network of 11 regional /base/ satellite stations covering different agro-climatic regions, and the linkages with 59 National Active Germplasm Sites constitute the Indian Plant Genetic Resource Management System.

Mandate

To act as nodal institute at national level for acquisition and management of indigenous and exotic plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, and to carry out related research and human resource development, for sustainable growth of agriculture.

Objectives of NBPGR

• To plan, organize, conduct and coordinate exploration and collection of indigenous and exotic plant genetic resources.
• To undertake introduction, exchange and quarantine of plant genetic resources.
• To characterize, evaluate, document and conserve crop genetic resources and promote their use, in collaboration with other national organizations.
• To develop information network on plant genetic resources.
• To conduct research, undertake teaching and training, develop guidelines and create public awareness on plant genetic resources.

Courtesy: various websites