Climate change to hit tropical countries: Former foreign secretary Shyam Saran

Bengaluru: In the Himalayas, many years ago apples grew even at the level of 7,000 feet. Now, they grow only at 9000 feet or above. Reason? Tropical countries like India which already have high temperature are most affected due to climate changes, said former foreign secretary Shyam Saran.

He delivered a lecture on ‘Climate Change and Energy security: Twin challenges confronting India’ at the National Institute of Advance studies on Tuesday.

Stressing that the climate change and energy are two sides of the same coin, he said that to deal with the threat of climate change the world needs to strategically shift from greenhouse gas (GHG) generating fossil fuel to renewable sources like solar energy and clean sources of energy like nuclear energy.

“However, such a transition faces hurdles in the form of mitigation, adaptation, finance and technology,” he said.

The former foreign secretary explained that industrialised countries were major contributors of greenhouse gas emissions. Further, he said that the tropical countries were less adaptable to climate changes, when compared to developed countries. “The developed countries are highly adaptable to climate changes, but the tropical countries need robust global regime to adapt to these changes,” he said.

Mr Saran highlighted that greenhouse gas emissions remain in the atmosphere causing global warming. “We do not know the macro level impact of these emissions. We should not only know how to deal with climate challenges, but even attack them,” he said. He emphasised that the world had 2 degree centigrade limitation, but if the gases are not reduced by 90 per cent globally, the developing countries would suffer.

Further, he stressed that developing countries have attempted to get financial aid from developed countries to make a transition towards clean energy sources, but the financial burden is making the transition difficult.

He summed up, “To make a transition we need strategic plans. Although the Central Government has taken various measures, but it was not enough. We need an authoritative entity to take a comprehensive view. The sooner India makes the change, the better.”