'Integrate mitigation and adaptation into policy making'

While India deals with the need to mitigate carbon emission and adapt to climate change, the real challenge is to integrate the two options into mainstream policy making, an expert said on Friday.

Speaking at National Consultation on Climate Change Adaptation in India here, Nitin Desai, a member of the Prime Minister's Council on Climate Change, said: "The real challenge today is to start integrating adaptation and mitigation options into the mainstream policy making."

He, however, said integrating the mitigation dimension may be easier than integrating adaptation, which will be "more challenging" in view of adopting measures that may call for a fiscal strain.

"Actually integrating the mitigation dimension will not be difficult for India. Integrating adaptation is a little more challenging. Here you will have to do things which are more expensive. For instance, it is challenging to establish a human settlement that will still be viable when the sea level rises," told IANS.

On being asked for a potential challenge to India in the run up to Paris 2015, the UN climate change conference to be held in December, Desai noted that "we must come up with credible INDCs (Intended Nationally Determined Contributions) themselves."

He said India's claim of not subjecting its INDCs for an external review is pointless "because it will be reviewed by the world. It may not be negotiated though".

Impressing on the potential stumbling block India may face at climate change negotiations in Paris, Desai said securing compensation for loss and damage to the climate by advanced nations will be a "tough" call.

"The idea of committing themselves to paying damage will not be accepted very easily by the big emitters," he said.