Developing countries least to blame for carbon emissions says Union Minister Bhupender Yadav

Mohali, May 8

Union Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav has stated that India’s role in leading the fight for environmental protection is very crucial.

“Developing countries like India contribute least to global carbon emissions and therefore the western industrialised nations must shoulder a bulk of the financial burden for combating climate change,” said Yadav while speaking at the valedictory session of the two-day international conference on “Environmental Diversity and Environmental Jurisprudence: National and International Perspective” organised by Chandigarh University, Gharuan.

The need of the hour is to strike a balance between development and pollution-free environment, and India’s development philosophy of “Development without Destruction” has biodiversity conservation as a top priority in all sectors of economic development, he said.

Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Judge of the Supreme Court of India; Justice Michael Wilson, Judge of the Supreme Court of Hawaii; Justice Augustine George Masih, Judge of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana; Justice Swatanter Kumar (retd), former NGT chairman; Satnam Singh Sandhu, Chancellor, Chandigarh University, also attended the event.

Yadav said the present government at the Centre had taken up the task of democratising biodiversity conservation. “We have 2.75 lakh Biodiversity Management Committees functional in India in every village and local body, which document and manage biodiversity in the form of People’s Biodiversity Register (PBR). We are currently implementing the National Clean Air Plan. To combat the air pollution, especially in Delhi NCR and the adjoining states, we have brought the Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas Act, 2021, to establish a commission as the sole authority with jurisdiction over air quality management in the region.”