Day 3 DSDS 2011 Live blog – Special Address by Montek Singh Ahluwalia

9.30 am

Special Address session moderated by Dr. Prodipto Ghosh distinguished fellow, Earth Science and Climate Change, TERI.

Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia now speaking

Domestically a lot to be done to gain momentum and to really figure out what is needed to be done unilaterally towards sustainable development. I am frankly a bit disappointed with what’s happening globally, I think at the planning commission we are focussing on what we need to do rather than worrying about what is happening at the global front.

In India we are definately integrating energy policies. The main thing the Planning commission is doing is to work on ways how we can handle energy domestically by achiving what we said we would achieve, that is a 20% reduction in emission.

Also, the companies should put their revenue money into further research and innovation. There is no feasible way by which budgetary money could go into research but the companies can do that.

Audience question – how much of the global efforts have been internalized in Indian economy?

I don’t particularly approve the idea of the global community deciding what the initiatives should be, so I don’t know what is meant by ‘internalize’, in many respects India is a leader in these matters and we are rather externalizing global action. We have a national action plan, that we would do anyway, which may and may not align with global plan, which in my opinion is not very sufficient anyway.

 

Concluding and summarizing the 11th Delhi Sustainable Development Summit

After the energy packed 3 days we have now concluded the DSDS 2011. Mark your calenders for the DSDS 2010 which will be held from 2nd to 4th February 2012 at New Delhi, India.

Next year’s theme will be “Protecting the Global Commons: 20 years post Rio”

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The DSDS 2011 can perhaps best be summarized by what John Prescott said, “we have the same number of attendees on the last day as we had on the first day, or may be even more.”

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Day 3 DSDS 2011 Live Blog Ministerial Session

In this session we are discussing what the steps the government and policy makers taking to protect the planet. Can sustainable development be a central principle of policy making?

Mr. Malik Amin Aslam, Former Minister of State (Environment) Pakistan now speaking on what works with the policy makers.

• A trigger for the policy makers – show them the quantity, the relative impact on economy and they are likely to follow. Along with the trigger, give them a framework.

“Let us not fall into the trap of global inertia, let us act now” said Prince Mostapha Zaher, Director General of the National Environmental Protection Agency of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.

Speakers list –

Mr. Rachmat Witoelar, Former State Minister for the Environment, & Chairman, National Council on Climate Change and President’s Special Envoy for Climate Change, Indonesia now speaking on the models adopted in Indonesia

Mr. Hideki Minamikawa, Vice-Minister, Ministry of the Environment Government of Japan

Dr. Khalid bin Muhammad Al-Qusaibi, Minister of Economy and Planning of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Mr. Tiemoko Sangare Minister of Environment and Sanitation, Republic of Mali

Twitter updates related to present session: #dsds2011 (Courtesy Aimee Christensen @aimeerc)

• Mali Environment Minister: 80 percent Mali people work in agriculture, generating 40% of GDP. Huge risk faced w climate change.
• Saudi Min of Economy/Planning: environment needs to be at the core of planning, economy. Fully integrate into devmt program.
• Saudi Min of Economy/Planning: must mainstream sustainability into economy. Water scarcity, irregularity already felt directly.
• Afghan Environment Min calls 4 mainstreaming sustainability + climate change into development incl payment for envtl services.

Audience question – when I came to the hotel i took an auto,inside I saw audi, SUVs parked, can anybody comment on that?

Day 3 DSDS 2011 Live blog – Building awareness to propel local initiative

11.45 am

The local initiatives in energy conservation and sustainable growth needs to be adopted and replicated by more and more communities. For this communities need to be informed about the initiatives. In this session we are discussing how we can raise awareness about the local initiatives and how we can convert that information into action.

Mr. Henry Saint Bris speaking now about use of information technology in spreading awareness

Ms. Akanksha Chaurey Director speaking now about the LaBL implementation model, sharing how TERI has partnered with agents at various levels to spread awareness and help them take action.

Mr. Richard Dent, CEO, Climatecom Strategies, UK is now speaking about the importance of local mass media, proper translation of information, horizontal and vertical communication strategies.

• Use soap operas on TV to give out the message rather than public announcement.
• Point to remember here is that there is no guarantee in media, that people will listen.
• In India we hear how text messages are used for selling products, same can be done to spread awareness. A text message from Amitabh Bacchan or Aishwariya Rai could have a huge impact.
• Use of Facebook and Myspace have been successful in many regard to spread awareness.

Mr. Bittu Sehgal, Editor, Sanctuary Asia and Sanctuary Cub Magazines, India now speaking on how children are great means of communication and can make huge difference in raising awareness.

As adults we are too cynical and paralyzed with our believes that we cannot make a difference. But children are great receptor of information and are driven to make a change.

Best communication tool is the truth, but it is not something the media likes to tell. If you tell the truth the community would be propelled to action in self interest.

Dr. Nelson Sam, Global Managing Director, Advisory Services, Point Carbon, Sales & Trading, Thomson Reuters, UK

Dr. Staffan Tillander, Ambassador for Climate Change, Ministry of the Environment, Govt. of Sweden

Media

Editor, Sanctuary Asia and Sanctuary Cub Magazines, India

Day 3 DSDS 2011 Live Blog – Vulnerability and Resilience

10.15 am

In the present session we are discussing, how can we increase the resilience of local community faced with natural calamity / climate change? People are affected with health problems and migration when faced with calamity. What should be done by the Government, organizations and community to reduce the casualties.

Dr Laurence Tubiana, de development durable et des relations internationals France is presently speaking.

Dr Wakako Hironaka, Former Member, House of Councillors, Japan now speaking about Japan’s initiative in increasing resilience amongst local communities.

Japan has used information technology, internet based tools to disseminate information at time of disasters. Japanese technology was also used in predicting Tsunami.

Mr. Bartlet Edes, Director, Poverty Reduction, Gender and Social Development, Asian Development Bank, Philippines – talking about climate change as the biggest threat to health, the means that can be adhered to in order to save health hazards, human displacement caused by natural disaster.

Dr Rathana peou van den Heuvel, Associate Professor, University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh talking about contextualizing vulnerability and resilience with respect to the situations in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh is a country most known for being at the forefront of climate change and natural calamity. It is one of the least developed in the world frequented by natural disasters like flood, cyclone and earthquake. If we look at the map we would see in the whole country there is no place without vulnerability.

In 2007 Bangladesh was hit by category 4 cyclone, 3500 people were killed, the next year same area same region Myanmar was hit by category 3 cyclone killing over 100 thousand people. This talks a lot about the vulnerabiliyt of the community. And besides climate change and health, the other key area to look at when talking about vulnerability is migration.