Syllabus: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.
Context
- A decade after the Paris Agreement, the climate crisis has intensified, impacting South Asia severely through monsoon floods, landslides, and heatwaves.
- The global order is fractured, with weakened multilateralism, rising protectionism, and diluted climate pledges.
- Despite global strains, South Asia, home to nearly two billion people, is emerging as a leader in regional climate action.
Regional Consultations
- The COP30 Special Envoy for South Asia held consultations in Bhutan, Nepal, Maldives, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh.
- Engagements included governments and civil society to ensure coordinated regional messaging at COP30, Brazil.
- Discussions identified common priorities and areas for regional climate cooperation.
South Asia’s Response
- The approach is pragmatic and collaborative, emphasizing renewable energy, climate-resilient agriculture, and integration of adaptation into national planning.
- Regional climate leadership is driven by necessity, experience, and moral obligation.
Five Key Priorities
- Governance: Need for robust, inclusive governance with clear reporting timelines via G20, BIMSTEC, BRICS platforms.
- Adaptation Priority: Must equal mitigation. ADB projects up to 200 days >35°C by 2100; diverse regional impacts include glacial floods, coastal threats, and droughts.
- Climate Finance: Demand for predictable, non-debt-inducing finance. The $1.3 trillion Baku–Belém Roadmap must specify deliverers, amounts, and timelines.
- South Asia urges tripling of adaptation finance and creating regional access mechanisms through Green Climate Fund and Loss and Damage Fund.
- Non-State Actors: Private sector, youth, civil society, and academia must enhance ambition and accountability in climate governance.
Technology and Innovation
- Most South Asian countries are excluded from technology flows, showing a transfer gap.
- Need for AI, big data, and blended finance to scale solutions and improve efficiency.
Way Forward
- COP30 must focus on delivery, cooperation, and mutual implementation across borders.
- South Asia should lead by ensuring that multilateralism regains credibility through action and delivery.