The Oceanic Group,  a not-for-profit society recently organised a Seminar on “Sustainable Development: Post Bali” at the India Habitat Center.

The seminar began with Mr. Mani Shankar Aiyar, the honourable Minister for Panchayati Raj, Youth Affairs & Sports, Govt. of India releasing a book titled ‘Local Environmental Governance in India’ by Lead India in collaboration with the British High Commission. Mr. Aiyar then spoke about the importance of local governance in a developing country like ours.

The stage was then handed over to Dr. Jyoti Parikh, Executive Director, Integrated Research for Action and Development (IRADe) and keynote speaker for the event, who was also part of the team of delegates who had represented India at the Bali Summit. With the help of a presentation, Dr. Parikh explained the importance and relevance of the carbon market to India and her developing economy.

After the presentation, Mr. Nitin Desai sensitized the audience about how real the threats from a changing climate are. He highlighted the fact that the first and the most severe impacts of climate change will be on developing countries like India and consequently, a bad climate change mitigation policy will be a bad news for India and that we will have to pay the price. The concern that Mr. Nitin Desai showed for his flat on the first floor of a building very close to the sea was shared by Mr. Mani Shankar Aiyar who also expressed a deep concern over the large parts of coastal India that may be submerged in the coming years owing to rising sea levels.

Ambassador Nigam Prakash then opened the stage for questions from the audience. Members of the audience expressed their concerns on climate change and combat policies. Ambassador Nigam Prakash concluded the seminar by thanking the esteemed panelists and the audience for their time on an issue of global importance.