Topic:
Country: India
Delegate Name: Xindy Jiang
Climate change is vital to the world’s ecosystem, as they impact public health in various ways, such as clean air, safe drinking water, good amount of food, and safe shelter. It is a result of greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of fossil fuels. Therefore the global average surface temperature is approximately 1°C warmer than before. In the future, the climate is expected to cause many deaths, and damage to the economies of countries. Natural disasters can also occur under the circumstances of climate change, and this will heavily impact the general public health of people living in certain areas that typically encounter hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and substantial temperature differences. People often fantasize and romanticize the future, but in reality, we might even face many challenges other than world population growth, and construction of modern infrastructure. These issues are caused by climate change, such as ocean acidification, temperature and sea level changes, and ice or snow permafrost. India’s current policy on this topic includes taking action as the country is already experiencing a warmer climate.
India is currently facing many problems issued by global warming since the late 20th century. Droughts, monsoon changes, and food security could be a serious problem to India’s population and it’s public health. To reiterate to how India is responding, it is facilitating policies that they have created, with laws and regulations that include protecting regional glaciers, greening railway systems, and reducing single use plastic. India is also actively involved in the Paris Agreement, a legally binding international treaty adopted by the United Nations Climate Change Conference in December of 2015. It’s primary goal is to “hold the increase in the global average temperature well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels” before the end of this century. This prominent agreement brings all nations together into the process of fighting against climate change which works on a five-year cycle of ambitious climate action. Individual countries are supporting this action by submitting their own plans, also known as nationally determined contributions (NDCs). These are meant to reflect progress compared to previous actions.
Other than the Paris Agreement that is still action by many countries involved in the United Nations (UN), India is actively involved in a Non-Goverment Organization (NGO) called WaterAid, a non-profit international organization. It’s primary goal is to end the global water crisis for everyone globally. Currently,
India proposes to have an action plan of overgrowth planations (afforestation) in certain parts of the world, such as regions in the Amazon, Canada, Russia, and Southeast Asia. This will allow for more carbon dioxide (CO2) molecules to be absorbed, replacing the negative molecules with better ones to enhance our climates and temperatures. Though afforestation is a skeptical plan made by scientists, as we would need to plant a trillion trees just to decrease the temperature to 0.15°C lower. India also advocates to add onto that plan to restrict single-use plastic and carbon emissions as high as possible for the better of the community, and to have specific laws and regulations to be passed to ensure the action. For example, the plastic bag tax. Climate change is a severely damaging problem arising from early decades of industrialization to our modern world today. In order for the public health for everyone, and generations to come, we need to take direct action now to prevent global warming for the end of us.
