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Background to the Climate Change Forum

Recent scientific studies leave us in doubt that a "business as usual" approach would result in devastating damage due to the impacts of climate change. The challenge confronting us is to agree on and implement an urgent and adequate response to climate change at both the domestic and international levels.

A promising start has been made at the domestic level with the launch of the Prime Minister's National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC). The Action Plan sets out a comprehensive response to climate change in the overall context of development, identifying "measures that promote our development objectives while also yielding co-benefits for addressing climate change effectively". The eight missions under the Action Plan cover both adaptation and mitigation, in addition to scientific research. A number of state governments have already taken up the task of framing their own climate change responses. These developments are, of course, only the first steps in a long journey. Every level of governance, right down to the panchayat level, must be directly involved in facing the challenge of climate change.

A promising start has been made at the domestic level with the launch of the Prime Minister's National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC). The Action Plan sets out a comprehensive response to climate change in the overall context of development, identifying "measures that promote our development objectives while also yielding co-benefits for addressing climate change effectively". The eight missions under the Action Plan cover both adaptation and mitigation, in addition to scientific research. A number of state governments have already taken up the task of framing their own climate change responses. These developments are, of course, only the first steps in a long journey. Every level of governance, right down to the panchayat level, must be directly involved in facing the challenge of climate change

Climate change may have potential implications for a wide range of other global issues, including conventional and non-conventional security concerns, international trade, intellectual property rights, health, migration, international air, and maritime transportation, as well as human rights. Climate change has, therefore, come to figure on the agendas of diverse UN bodies and specialized agencies, including the UN Security Council, World Trade Organization (WTO), World Health Organization (WHO), International Labour Organization (ILO), International Maritime Organization (IMO), International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), and Human Rights Campaign (HRC). It is essential to ensure that any decisions in these diverse forums should be consistent with the provisions of the existing climate change agreements-the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol. The climate change community, too, needs to be continuously informed of related developments in other forums.

TERI has decided to establish a Climate Change Forum with a view to promoting informed discussion on the following issues.

(a) Our NAPCC, state-level plans and other domestic responses addressing climate change;

(b) The state of international negotiations on climate change and the major issues in debate; and

(c) Inter-linkages between climate change and other major global concerns, for example, trade, intellectual property rights, human rights, and human security.

The Climate Change Forum will hold regular seminars and conferences in order to promote greater public understanding of these vital issues.