India snubs IPCC, sets up own panel

Feb. 4: Almost cocking a snook at the IPCC, India has decided to set up its own Indian network for climate change assessment (INCCA) to monitor climate change in the country.

Announcing the setting up of the INCCA, Union forests and environment minister Jairam Ramesh said it would focus on using the three Ms — measuring, modelling and monitoring climate-related developments.

The decision to set up INCCA came about because India has been at the receiving end of two major climate change controversies, the first when the US environmental protection agency stated that rice cultivation in India was responsible for emitting 38 million tones of methane gas per year.

This was proved completely fallacious when an Indian agro-scientist, Dr A.P. Mitra, established that methane content from rice production in India was between two and six million tons per year.