India at the Crossroads: Navigating Climate Change and Development Challenges

 Originally published in: https://tr.ee/xoYeaW_rvB

The Impact of Climate Change on India's Development Trajectory

India is ground zero for climate change, due to its location, terrain, and demographics. In the

near future, India's internal and international debates will definitely be significantly dominated

by the developing global issue of climate change. Responding to climate change will require

reorganising economies and ways of life, utilising new technologies, developing inventive

financial systems, and possibly even new political structures and institutions.

India has made significant strides in raising wages and living standards over the past three

decades. Prior to the epidemic, India's median annual income was $2,100, or little about $8 per

day (World Bank, 2021). Despite an almost sixfold rise since 1990, the majority of Indians still

reside in poverty. Over half of the total global CO2 emissions have been released in that same

time frame (Ritchie and Roser, 2018). As a result, global warming has intensified, and in 2017,

global average temperatures were 1°C higher than pre-industrial levels (Connors et al., 2019). It

might be possible to limit the average global temperature increase to 1.5°C by the end of the

century with quick, ambitious, and well-targeted mitigation measures. But the current course of

action will lead to warming of at least 3°C over pre-industrial levels (UN Environment, 2020), as

well as a considerably more catastrophic climate disaster, whose consequences would

disproportionately fall on the shoulders of the poor and other marginalised people.

India has already begun to feel the effects of one degree of global warming. Across the nation,

extreme heatwaves, torrential rain, severe flooding, catastrophic storms, and rising sea levels are

destroying lives, livelihoods, and property. The human and financial costs of climate change will

only rise in the future. It is not India's fault that temperatures are rising. India barely contributes

3.2% of global emissions overall, while having about 17.8% of the world's population (Global

Change Data Lab, 2021). However, India cannot fulfil its development goals if it ignores climate

change. The other massive and pressing development issues that India faces are in no way

diminished by this assertion. It does, however, acknowledge that in order for prosperity and

peace to last, there must be both international measures to limit the effects of climate change and

domestic adaptation to the warming that has already been locked in by historical emissions.

Vulnerabilities and Economic Costs

The poor are the most at risk from climate change's effects because they have the fewest options

for changing the status quo and the least amount of physical protection from changes in the

environment. The majority of the impoverished in India reside in rural areas that are directly

reliant on climatically sensitive resources including rivers, forests, and agricultural supplies. Due

to India's varied geography, which includes mountains, rivers, forests, deserts, and coastlines, 

different places would be impacted by climate change in different ways, making it difficult to

develop universal solutions.

First, India will incur significant financial losses as a result of climate change. Agricultural needs

that could be impacted by increasing heat, rising sea levels, or river depletion are seasonal

rainfall, fertile and non-saline coastlines, and river-based irrigation. The expenses rise when

migration, infrastructural stress, and ecological disaster damage are added. Second, some of the

most severe effects of climate change will seriously undermine human security. Environmental

conditions that already afflict a significant number of Indians include abnormal weather patterns

like floods, droughts, rising temperatures and heat waves, and river recession.

Climate change will undoubtedly induce or magnify occurrences that hasten resource depletion.

Political or perhaps violent strife would result from competition over these finite resources.

Resource-based disputes are challenging to isolate since they are rarely overt (N. Padukone

2010). In the end, decisions made today about climate change mitigation will determine how

serious the threats related to climate change are for India.

India has historically and currently low emissions per person. Average earnings are still low, and

millions of people continue to lack access to decent housing, essential services, and stable

employment. As a result, India has a lot of other critical needs and has less of a responsibility to

the world to reduce climate change, as acknowledged by the climate agreements' "common but

differentiated responsibility" concept. This notion has influenced discussions about climate

policy in India for a long time, as well as the nation's stance in international climate negotiations.

Crafting Green and Inclusive Recovery Policies

India's simultaneous goals of sustainable, equitable growth, poverty alleviation, and climate

change mitigation would be achieved through inclusive development, which takes into account

rural areas, non-car transportation infrastructure, and the contributions of the poor. 

Additionally, inclusive development would allow India to produce innovative practices and 

businesses from which even the West can learn. Ambitious climate action could provide a "triple 

win" in the face of the three crises that India is currently experiencing: (1) the health crisis, 

where the devastating effects of Covid-19 are exacerbated by high levels of pollution, as well as 

water scarcity and extreme heat; (2) the economic and fiscal crisis, where extensive poverty and 

infrastructure deficits are exacerbated by the recent economic slowdown and rising public debt; 

and (3) the climate crisis, the impacts of which are currently being felt first by marginalised 

groups, worsening existing inequalities.

It won't be simple to achieve this "triple win," and policymakers will have to carefully consider

investments and trade-offs in order to maximise advantages. For instance, a low-carbon energy

transition might increase the cost of strengthening food security or energy access while 

decreasing the cost of improving air quality (McCollum et al., 2018). To limit the potential costs

of low-carbon development, particularly for low-income and other marginalised groups,

decision-makers must carefully plan and arrange their interventions. The benefits of pursuing a

green, inclusive recovery, however, cannot be overstated, especially in light of the enormous

human and financial costs incurred by a global temperature increase of more than 1.5°C.

India must balance sustainable growth with internal fairness, climate mitigation, and other

factors in order to avoid the most severe consequences. In the end, it is vital to adjust to

inescapable environmental changes. To manage the political and security-related implications of

climate change, political adaptation at the local, national, and regional levels is essential in

addition to crucial technological advancement.

References

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