KOTTAYAM: T. Jayaraman, professor at Centre for Science, Technology and Society, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, has called for formulating a carbon budget perspective for equity-based global environmental governance. Addressing the first plenary session of the international conference on ‘Climate Change and Developing Countries,’ Prof. Jayaraman pointed out the limitations of the current approach to global target setting by developed nations which provides them with disproportionate access to carbon space.
The conference was organised by the Centre for Environmental Education and Technology (CEET), Kottayam, in association with the School of Environmental Sciences, Mahatma Gandhi University, and the Centre for Rural Management. Taking a critical look at debates over the absence of quantitative emission reduction targets in the Copenhagen Accord, Prof. Jayaraman said that time has come that the carbon budget perspective in international climate negotiations should be realistic enough to address the issues raised by developing countries.
According to him, the basic question was “equal entitlement and that must be the basis for sharing the global commons,” he said. Who has contributed the most carbon dioxide stock in the atmosphere and who has taken how much carbon dioxide space are the issues in focus. Current statistics reveal that the actual US share in carbon space is 29 per cent while that of India was two per cent and that of China, nine per cent. However, the fair-share of the US was five per cent in carbon space while that of India can be 17 per cent and that of China, 20 per cent. Those below the fair-share can increase emissions and those above must cut. However, the total must stay within the carbon budget, he said.
Irreversible path
He pointed out that the world cannot realistically think of a future scenario based on agrarian development pattern. Industrialisation is an irreversible path of human progress and in this trajectory of development the question was how much we could reduce carbon emissions and not the total capping on emissions. Prof Benny Peiser of Liverpool John Moores University, UK, and James Jacob, director, Rubber Research Institute of India, also spoke. Michael Hoffman of California Institute of Technology chaired the session.
Source: The Hindu, Dated: 22.02.2010
The conference was organised by the Centre for Environmental Education and Technology (CEET), Kottayam, in association with the School of Environmental Sciences, Mahatma Gandhi University, and the Centre for Rural Management. Taking a critical look at debates over the absence of quantitative emission reduction targets in the Copenhagen Accord, Prof. Jayaraman said that time has come that the carbon budget perspective in international climate negotiations should be realistic enough to address the issues raised by developing countries.
According to him, the basic question was “equal entitlement and that must be the basis for sharing the global commons,” he said. Who has contributed the most carbon dioxide stock in the atmosphere and who has taken how much carbon dioxide space are the issues in focus. Current statistics reveal that the actual US share in carbon space is 29 per cent while that of India was two per cent and that of China, nine per cent. However, the fair-share of the US was five per cent in carbon space while that of India can be 17 per cent and that of China, 20 per cent. Those below the fair-share can increase emissions and those above must cut. However, the total must stay within the carbon budget, he said.
Irreversible path
He pointed out that the world cannot realistically think of a future scenario based on agrarian development pattern. Industrialisation is an irreversible path of human progress and in this trajectory of development the question was how much we could reduce carbon emissions and not the total capping on emissions. Prof Benny Peiser of Liverpool John Moores University, UK, and James Jacob, director, Rubber Research Institute of India, also spoke. Michael Hoffman of California Institute of Technology chaired the session.
Source: The Hindu, Dated: 22.02.2010
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