Expert says CO2 needed for growth,cutting soot helps

He was speaking at the launch of the Network for Climate Change Assessment (INCCA),a scientific body which will monitor and predict carbon emissions and climate change impacts in India. Meanwhile,other scientists are also urging for the study of non-CO2 sources of global warming. “I was disappointed in the last IPCC Assessment Report (where BC was left out). But in the new Fifth Assessment Report,we are putting more emphasis on black carbon,” said Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) chairman RK Pachauri.

On the lines of the IPCC,India is set to produce a climate change assessment report every year,with a special focus on health,agriculture,biodiversity and water. This is also set to be an attempt by India to counter several West-based reports on the impacts of climate change,especially on Himalayan glaciers and rise in sea level.

“There are many quacks here,especially on the issue of the Himalayan glaciers. I want Indian scientists to publish on the issue of climate change in peer reviewed journals,” Ramesh said. Environment Secretary Vijai Sharma added: “Methane emissions from Indian agriculture was considered to be around 38 million tonnes per year as per US experts in the early 1990s. This was ultimately accepted at between 2 to 6 million tonnes per year after field research by Dr A P Mitra and his colleagues.”