The historic and most-awaited Paris climate talks are scheduled to begin on November 30, in Paris. With less than a week to go in the talks, the Indian government has reiterated its demand of climate justice for poor nations.
Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar stated that India expects industrialized nations to commit to stricter targets in order to free up carbon space for developing nations.
Javadekar also stated that climate justice was a pre-requisite for the development and well-being of billions of poor people across the world. He also mentioned that India, along with the rest of the developing world, has already taken more than their fair share of responsibility. However, developed nations are yet to commit to what they’re capable of.
The debate surrounding climate justice has invited comments from the United States as well. US Secretary of State John Kerry termed India as a ‘challenge’ during the upcoming Paris climate talks. India retaliated in no time, calling Kerry’s comments ‘unwarranted’, and reiterated that it was not in the habit of taking any sort of a pressure from anyone.
The clear rift between India and US can be attributed to the issue of climate justice. India’s demands are more than reasonable seeing that developed nations are turning a blind eye towards the hopes if development in developing countries. Having done more damage to the climate during their march to development, developed nations like the US must do more to compensate for the damage caused to the environment.
Recently, reports suggested that the Paris climate talks may have lost their steam, mainly due to the tragic Paris attacks which led to the death of 130 people. Now, with India keen on pushing for climate justice, there’s friction from the other side. Countless scientists, researchers, and climate change patrons are hoping for some sort of an effectual change to be set into motion, post the Paris climate talks. The talks boil down to one single prioritized agenda of restricting global temperature change to 2°C.
(Featured Image Credit: theguardian.com)
