Modi seeks global support for 'local adaptation' of climate resilient practices

Adaptation has not received the kind of importance in global climate debate that mitigation has, said Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday sought international support for “local adaptation” of climate resilient practices in government schemes benefiting the common man, asserting that support for vulnerable communities to adapt to the dangerous consequences of climate change must be global.

"Adaptation has not received the kind of importance in global climate debate that mitigation has. This is an injustice to those developing nations that are more impacted by climate change. We will need to make adaptation the key component of our development policies and projects," Modi said at the UN 26th Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change at Glasgow, bringing up the “adaptation versus mitigation” debate once again in climate talks.

Climate change mitigation means avoiding and reducing emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere to prevent the planet from warming to more extreme temperatures, says a WWF report.

This is easy to understand but difficult to accomplish because the greenhouse gases have a long residence time in the atmosphere..

Adaptation, on the other hand, means altering human behavior and systems to protect the people, economies, and the environment. While it's easier to adapt if emissions come down, adapting to a changed environment requires long term funding support and policy back up.

In India, government schemes like Nal Se Jal (piped water), Clean India Mission and Ujjawala (providing free cooking gas connections to the poorer section of the society) not only gave adoption benefits to the citizens but also improved their quality of life, Modi said in a short speech lasting just about two minutes.

"Just like in India, climate is a big challenge for the agriculture sector for most developing countries. There are changes in the cropping patterns, untimely rains and floods, or crops are destroyed by regular typhoons," he said, asking the world leaders to join the Coalition to Disaster Resilient Infrastructure that was proposed by Modi in 2016 and established in 2019 in New Delhi.

On traditional communities that knew how to live with nature in harmony, Modi said such knowledge should flow to next generations and should be added to schools syllabus. Protection of lifestyle suitable to local conditions could also be an important part of adoption, he added.