Environment: Country Position Paper: India

India is classified as a developing country. India's rapid economic growth and having the second highest population density creates for an interesting perspective on how India will impact the environment. This essay will focus on India's perspective on the danger of human-induced climate change, the Kyoto Protocol, the need for a system of credits, and the portion of adaptation funds.

Danger of Human Induced Environment

India should be concerned about climate change due to the fact that this phenomenon may have substantial adverse impacts on the country. Possible human-induced climate change impacts in India are those on agriculture, sea level rise leading to submergence of coastal areas, as well as increased frequency of extreme events. Each of these events poses a serious threat to India. India runs the risk of lower agricultural production. “Kumar and Parikh examined the impact of climate change on agricultural yields, GDP, and welfare.” There findings suggested that with a temperature increase of 2.5 degrees Celsius yield losses for rice and wheat would vary between 40 to 50 percent, and GDP would drop between 1.8 to 3.4 percent. This would create great havoc in India both economically and socially. (Parikh & Parikh). “The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projects that the global mean temperature may increase between 1.4 and 5.8 degrees Celsius by 2100.” (Current Science, Vol. 90, No.3 10 February 2006) making this threat a realistic one if corrective measures are not taken. Furthermore, the intrusion of sea water in the ground water and changes in temperature can reduce agricultural and fishing incomes. Also, with increasing sea levels India once again faces detrimental problems; many people will be left homeless due to submerged coast lines or islands. This has already taken place in Ghoramara a tiny island in India (Sengupta, 2007). Also, India has to be concerned with extreme events like cyclones due to the human induced climate change....