Govt beefs up strategy for climate change talks

Inter-ministerial team of officials from three ministries coordinating to ensure India's voice is heard amid the global din

The Indian government plans to ramp up its public outreach on the Paris climate change agreement. For the first time an inter-ministerial team of officials has been formed to pro-actively push the country's messaging at a time when the global conversation on the event is reaching fever pitch.

Unlike most other emerging and developed countries, India has been handicapped by a small team of negotiators landing up at the negotiations. Usually not numbering more than 20, the team of negotiators has had to deal with dozens of parallel negotiations and bilateral meetings over the two weeks of UN talks. In addition the same officials have had to engage with media and hold briefings on their own and with other developing country partners.

This is set to change with coordination between the external affairs ministry, the power ministry and the environment ministry happening almost a month ahead of the talks.

In the run-up to the Paris meeting and during the negotiations, a regular round of formal briefings would become the norm - a practice that other key countries follow each year. Sources in the government said a formal mechanism for engagement with the media and an active civil society would be in place to ensure the Indian point of view is also heard in what is bound to be a high voltage and boisterous event over two weeks.

At the recent negotiations at Bonn, the leader of the G77 and China group of developing countries had requested the media to report a fair picture of the talks. Sources in the camp said it was perceived that the views of the developed countries find overwhelming representation while developing countries asking to protect their priorities are sometimes reflected as those holding up a global agreement to save the planet.

Several negotiators in the developing world camps that Business Standard spoke to had expressed their concern that the loss of voice was a result of two factors. "The media from the global North have greater resources and influence. Then, the countries from the South anyway find it tough to muster together a delegation that can negotiate these parallel tracks. Most of them, aware of their limited capacity, do not even plan for public engagements at such times," one of the African group negotiators had said.

While India is counted as one of the emerging economies in the developing country blocks with great influence at the climate talks, its negotiating teams have constituted officials pulled together in to the collective from various ministries at the last moment. Hamstrung for resources, the Indian delegations have relegated public outreach as the last priority at the negotiations. This year, with Paris talks being seen as critical by the government, the core of the team has begun operations much in advance. Officials from the three ministries - environment, external affairs and power - have begun coordination not just for the closed-door negotiations but also reaching out with their message.

"We have seen many expert reports now showing that developing world is collectively doing more than our developed country partners in the fight against climate change. These are independent reports from experts and civil society. These facts need to be highlighted. At the same time, we have to explain our developmental priorities. Developing countries are more than shouldering their responsibilities. It's time for the developed world to begin with at least meeting its obligations and then accelerate its actions. We need to present this to the international community. The evidence is compelling but we need to share it proactively," said one key negotiator from the Indian team.