On November 27, 2020 Union Minister of Environment Forest and Climate Change Mr. Prakash Javadekar has launched “India Climate Change Knowledge portal” to provide information about the Government initiatives towards climate change to the citizens.
This will be the “Single Point Information Resource” updates initiatives by various Ministries Nationally and Internationally, towards the fight on climate change. The portal is built similar to the world bank’s Climate Change Knowledge Portal.
8 Major Components of the Portal:
- India’s Climate Profile
- National Policy Framework
- India’s NDC goals
- Adaptation Actions
- Mitigation Actions
- Bilateral and Multilateral Cooperation
- International Climate Negotiations
- Reports and Publications
Key Points:
i. India has practically achieved its Pre-2020 Climate Action targets of UNFCCC.
ii. The web portal will capture sector-wise mitigation and adaptation actions that are taken by different line ministries in one place.
About UNFCCC:
i.The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change(UNFCCC) was signed to reduce Greenhouse gas concentration in the atmosphere to eliminate any catastrophic events in future.
ii.Informally signed in the Earth Summit at Rio de Janeiro in 1992 and got Implemented in 1994.It is the parent treaty of the 2015 Paris Agreement.
iii.Number of Signatories- 197 countries.
iv.Secretariat(Headquarter)– Bonn, Germany.
v.Conference of the parties(COP) is a meeting conducted yearly to review the national inventories and progress of the parties. COP is the chief controlling body of UNFCCC.
vi.COP-25 held at Madrid, Spain in 2019.
vii.COP-26 planned for 2021 at Glasgow, United Kingdom.
Similar International Actions towards climate change:
i.Kyoto Protocol:
- Aim- To reduce the concentration of GreenHouse Gases(GHG)
- Signed in December 1997, at Kyoto, Japan.
- The convention asks countries to locally adopt policies and measures.
- Number of Signatories- 84
ii.Montreal Protocol:
- Succeeded the Vienna Conventions, 1985 to take measures towards Ozone layer depletion.
- Signed in 1987 at Montreal, Canada.
- Ozone(O3) Layer is present in the Stratosphere at the height of about 10-16 kms.
- Major Gases causing Ozone Depletion are Chlorofluorocarbon(CFC), Methane(CH3), Water Vapour, Carbon dioxide and Nitrous oxide(NO).
Recent Related News:
For the first time India was ranked one among the top ten performers in the Climate Change Performance Index(CCPI) with Rank 9.
