Climate Change Policy
My engagement with the science-policy interface on climate change has extended from regional and national to international levels
Soon after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) shared the Nobel Peace Prize 2007, the Government of India set up an expert committee under the Chairmanship of the Principal Scientific Advisor to prepare a national action plan on climate change. As a member of this pioneering committee, I contributed to the development of this plan which identified eight national missions on climate change. The Prime Minister's Council on Climate Change incorporated this action plan into the National Mission on Climate Change released in 2008. This document can be accessed HERE
I continue to serve on expert committees of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, addressing a variety of issues relating to national climate policy and reporting to UNFCCC on matters such as India's National Communication (NATCOM) and the biennial reporting. The various national reports on climate change can be access through the following LINK
Contributions to IPCC: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change. The work of the IPCC is mandated to be policy relevant but not policy prescriptive. I have been consistently contributing as an author to the work of the IPCC since its Second Assessment Cycle in the 1990s including its Special Reports up to the Sixth Assessment Cycle. This engagement continues with my election as a Vice Chair (Working Group 2) of the IPCC in 2023. The reports of the IPCC can be accessed at: https://www.ipcc.ch/reports/
Long Term Ecological Observatories - India:
I was the main initiator of India's LTEO, a multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional scientific programme of monitoring biodiversity in the context of climate change across all the major biomes in the country launched in 2020. I am also the national scientific coordinator of this programme funded by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. LTEO aims to provide the scientific basis for informing policy on climate change adaptation.
More details of LTEO can be accessed through the URL: https://lteo.iisc.ac.in/