As India moves to create its own legislation on climate change, Delhi’s oldest science group, and Mumbai’s most prestigious social science institution, are coming together to create a change. The Delhi Science Forum (DSF) and the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), along with members of thinktanks and the academia have come together to draft a statement on climate change that urges the country to take more responsibility on emission cuts.

Reason: the need for a non-governmental voice on the climate change debate which members feel has become “more about diplomacy” than action, and to create an interface with citizens who may feel alienated by the complex negotiations currently underway with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The DSF has addressed more than 20 meetings across the country explaining the complexities of climate change to civil society. Now, an initiative to create a credible statement on climate change by the group, begun a year ago through dialogue among members and academia, is near completion. India is currently working on creating its own legislation on climate change, for which a National Institute on Climate Change, and reporting emission cuts to Parliament are on the cards.

In its statement made after seminars in Delhi and Mumbai, the DSF and other academics have stressed that developing countries like India need to take tougher emission cuts. Conditional upon developed countries taking deep emission cuts, India and other large developing nations should take 25 per cent emission cuts from normal levels, it says.

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