Abstract The results are presented from a survey of national legislation and strategies to mitigate climate change covering almost all United Nations member states between 2007 and 2012. This data set is distinguished from the existing literature in its breadth of coverage, its focus on national policies (rather than international pledges), and on the use of objective metrics rather than normative criteria. The focus of the data is limited to national climate legislation and strategies and does not cover subnational or sectoral measures. Climate legislation and strategies are important because they can: enhance incentives for climate mitigation; provide mechanisms for mainstreaming; and provide a focal point for actors. Three broad findings emerge. First, there has been a substantial increase in climate legislation and strategies between 2007 and 2012: 67% of global GHG emissions are now under national climate legislation or strategy compared to 45% in 2007. Second, there are substantial regional effects to the patterns, with most increases in non-Annex I countries, particularly in Asia and Latin America. Third, many more countries have adopted climate strategies than have adopted climate legislation between 2007 and 2012. The article concludes with recommendations for future research.
Policy relevance The increase in climate legislation and strategy is significant. This spread suggests that, at the national level, there is some movement in reshaping climate governance despite the relatively slow pace of global negotiations, although the exact implications of this spread require further research on stringency of actions and their implementation. Asia and Latin America represent the biggest improvements, while OECD countries, which start from a high base, remain relatively stagnant. Implications of regional patterns are further refined by an analysis by emissions, which shows that some areas of low levels of legislation and strategy are also areas of relatively low emissions. A broad trend toward an emphasis on strategies rather than legislation, with the significant exception of China, calls for enhanced research into the practical impact of national non-binding climate strategies versus binding legislation on countries’ actual emissions over time.
Recurrent heat waves, already a concern in rapidly growing and urbanizing South Asia, will very likely worsen in a warming world. Coordinated adaptation efforts can reduce heat’s adverse health impacts, however. To address this concern in Ahmedabad (Gujarat, India), a coalition has been formed to develop an evidence-based heat preparedness plan and early warning system. This paper describes the group and initial steps in the plan’s development and implementation. Evidence accumulation included extensive literature review, analysis of local temperature and mortality data, surveys with heat-vulnerable populations, focus groups with health care professionals, and expert consultation. The findings and recommendations were encapsulated in policy briefs for key government agencies, health care professionals, outdoor workers, and slum communities, and synthesized in the heat preparedness plan. A 7-day probabilistic weather forecast was also developed and is used to trigger the plan in advance of dangerous heat waves. The pilot plan was implemented in 2013, and public outreach was done through training workshops, hoardings/billboards, pamphlets, and print advertisements. Evaluation activities and continuous improvement efforts are ongoing, along with plans to explore the program’s scalability to other Indian cities, as Ahmedabad is the first South Asian city to address heat-health threats comprehensively.
This paper presents a possible framework for designing a public health cadre in the present context, with lessons from health services development of the last six decades. Three major gaps that the public health cadre is meant to bridge have been identified. These are capacities within the system to address the technical requirements (epidemiological and health systems analysis); administrative/managerial dimensions; and the social determinants of health. Therefore, it argues that the cadre must not only have a techno-managerial structure, but also create a specific sub-cadre for the social determinants of health.
Background & objectives: Delhi, the capital city of India, has so far witnessed several outbreaks of dengue fever since 1967 (last one reported in 2013). Improved virological and entomological surveillance are the only tools that can help in prevention of dengue as well as in the development of dengue control programmes. The aim of the study was to conduct a prospective field study to detect dengue virus in adult Aedes aegypti mosquitoes collected from various localities represented by different socioeconomic groups in Delhi.
Methods: The study areas were selected and categorized into high, medium and low income groups on the basis of socioeconomical characteristics of the resident population, where dengue cases were reported during the past three years by MCD. Dengue viral infection was detected in the head squash of each adult mosquito by immunofluorescent assay (IFA) employing monoclonal antibodies against dengue virus (DENV). A total of 2408 females and 1206 males of Ae. aegypti were collected and tested by IFA.
Results: Out of 2408 Ae. aegypti females, 14 were found positive, with minimum infection rate (MIR) of 5.8 per 1000 mosquitoes. Among the 18 study areas, 11 localities were found positive for dengue virus infection. Low income group (LIG) areas showed highest mosquito infectivity (9.8), followed by medium income group (MIG), i.e. 6.2; while least was observed in high income group (HIG), i.e. 1.3. No vertical transmission of dengue virus could be detected in 1206 Ae. aegypti males collected.
Interpretation & conclusion: The study concludes that there was high MIR in the identified localities of low and medium income groups. Estimation of MIR in a female Aedes mosquito in the existing arsenals for dengue surveillance would be an added advantage for early warning of dengue outbreak. The presence of infected mosquitoes in identified localities of Delhi was alarming and require rigorous vector surveillance so that the severe outbreaks can be prevented.
The climate change arena comprises a diverse set of interacting actors from international, national and local levels. The multilevel architecture has implications for low-carbon technology deployment in developing countries, an issue salient to both development and climate objectives.The paper examines this theme through two inter-related questions: how do (or don’t) low-carbon technologies get deployed in India’s built environment, and what implications can be drawn from the Indian case for effective low-carbon technology development and transfer for developing countries? By examining the multilevel linkages in India’s buildings sector, the paper shows how the interactions between governance levels can both support and hinder technology deployment, ultimately leading to inadequate outcomes. The potential of these linkages is hobbled by aspects of the national context (federated energy governance and developing-country capacity limitations), yet can also be enabled by other features (the climate policy context, which may motivate international actors to fill domestic capacity lacunae). Reflecting on the India case, the paper makes recommendations for improved low-carbon technology deployment in developing countries: (1) technology development and transfer collaboration on a ‘need-driven’ approach, (2) development of the specific types of capacity required across the entire innovation chain and (3) domestic strengthening of the coordination and agendas across and between governance.
Suggested Citation: Khosla et al., 2017. ‘Deploying Low-carbon Technologies in Developing Countries: A view from India’s buildings sector’, Environmental Policy and Governance, Vol 27, pp 149 -162.
In recent years there have been several controversies regarding projects being granted (or denied) environmental regulatory approvals. While many civil society groups and those adversely affected believe that legal procedures are being bypassed for commercial gain at immense cost to the environment and the larger public interest; the corporate sector, and at least sections of the government, perceive the regulatory processes to be a roadblock in the country’s growth trajectory. This paper maps out the process to be followed before projects are granted one such regulatory approval – the environmental clearance under the EIA Notification 2006 – and presents an analysis of some of the problematic aspects in its design and implementation. Several stakeholders with a variety of interests, often conflicting, are involved, and the process is deeply contentious with significant implications for a range of rights. This paper aims to bring some clarity to our understanding of this complex process through a critical examination of the Notification, related documents and judicial pronouncements.
At this juncture, even before we discuss what effective access policies should look like, we need to clear some space and ask: How will we handle disagreement in this domain? For fundamentally, the reservations debate has become a debate about the character of democracy, in more ways than we recognise.
In 1950, the year the Republic of India came into being, Jawaharlal Nehru told his fellow parliamentarians that India “stood not only for progressive democracy in our own country but also in other countries … it has consistently been part of our policy in distant quarters of the world” (Muni 2009: 25). In recent decades, we have seen even greater emphasis on India’s identity as a democracy. In 2005, India’s then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh exhorted, “liberal democracy is the natural order of political organisation in today’s world. All alternate systems, authoritarian and majoritarian in varying degrees, are an aberration.”1 By affirming “India’s identity as the world’s largest democracy,” it has been suggested that policymakers were “breaking from post-Nehruvian Third Worldism” (Mohan 2015: 142). External actors too, often for strategic motives of their own, have drawn greater attention to India’s political system as a factor that should shape Delhi’s foreign policy choices.
Focusing on Indian words and, more importantly, its postures and deeds during this period of identity flux, however, indicates that the “democracy” factor in India’s statecraft has not heralded the shifts that were envisaged by its proponents at home and abroad. What we discover instead is that policymakers, in spite of the occasional rhetoric they espouse to meet the expectations of different audiences, have been non-ideological and pragmatic in the practice of foreign policy. Beyond the subcontinent, Indian behaviour has seen a large measure of continuity, as have the norms that guided these responses towards crises in democracy or Western attempts to reorder regimes. In the immediate neighbourhood, there appears to be an absence of an agreed framework for what ought to be the extent of India’s geopolitical footprint in the domestic affairs of its neighbours, as well as what values and norms ought to be guiding Indian policy.
How did India’s capital of more than 20 million widen its food security net to reach underserved populations during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown? Using publicly available data, government orders and insights from informal settlements, the article discusses the lessons from the Delhi government’s food relief efforts on universalising food security benefits.
The imminent publication of the draft National Register of Citizens in Assam is unlikely to resolve the controversy over illegal immigration from Bangladesh, which spans over four decades.
