India ignored U'khand floods, cyclone Phailin in UN meet: NGOs

On the eve of a crucial ministerial session on climate change here, green NGOs from India today accused Indian negotiators of having an "attitude problem" as they ignored to project the Nature's fury during Uttarakhand floods and cyclone Phailin in their opening statement at the UN conference.
They said that Indian negotiators should learn from Philippines chief climate negotiator Heb Sano who successfully raised the issue of cyclone Haiyan, that killed around 10,000 people in his country, at the 19th Conference of Parties (COP 19) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and stole the limelight in the first week of negotiations.

"Everyone is talking about Philippines... No one is talking about India. I think this is an attitude problem of Indian negotiators," said Chandra Bhushan, an Indian climate expert and deputy director general of a New Delhi-based NGO Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).
"Thousands of people have died in Uttarakhand. Not a word from Indian side on the climate disaster in India from Uttarakhand to Cyclone Phailin in Odisha," Bhushan said.
His statement was supported by Sanjay Vasisht, who represents another NGO Climate Action Network, South Asia.
Vasisht said there was no mention of these two disasters in the opening statement of Indian negotiators.

Indian officials were not immediately available for their comments. The number of officials sent for this year's climate negotiation is less than previous years.

There are 13 Indian officials from various ministries, including Ministry of Environment and Forests, Foreign Affairs, Agriculture and, Science and Technology, participating in the conference.
Asked why Indian NGOs did not raise the issue outside the Warsaw National Stadium, the venue of the conference, both Bhushan and Vasisht said it was because Indian officials failed to put the issue on the table of negotiation.
Bhushan, however, said that CSE is organising an exhibition tomorrow near the venue through which the damage caused by the Uttarakhand floods and cyclone Phailin will be highlighted.

Both Bhushan and Vasisht have been attending the Warsaw Climate Conference since it began on November 11. They raised the charges against the Indian negotiators just ahead of the second leg of the 12-day conference.
Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan is expected to attend the high-level ministerial session starting tomorrow.