India’s Second National Communication to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change – Work Programme

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India’s Second National Communication to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change – Work Programme

January 21, 2012

The significant feature of the Second National Communication lies in its innovative approach in devising the programme on vulnerability assessment and adaptation, which includes preparation of the national-level impact assessment of various sectors.


India is a Party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The Convention enjoins Parties to communicate information about the implementation of the Convention, taking into account their common but differentiated responsibilities and their specific national and regional development priorities, objectives and circumstances. Article 12 of the Convention relates to the communication of information pertaining to implementation in accordance with Article 4 (1) of the Convention, whereby each Party is required to communicate to the Conference of the Parties the following:-

A national inventory of anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of all greenhouse gases not controlled by the Montreal Protocol, to the extent its capacities permit, using comparable methodologies to be promoted and agreed upon by the Conference of the Parties;

A general description of steps taken or envisaged by the Party to implement the Convention; and

Any other information that the Party considers relevant to the achievement of the objective of the Convention and suitable for inclusion in its communication, including, if feasible, material relevant for calculations of global emission trends.

Towards fulfillment of obligations under the Convention, India furnished its Initial National Communication (INC) on June 22, 2004 within the stipulated time. The INC provided information on emission of greenhouse gases of anthropogenic origin by sources and removals by sinks at 1994 level. Besides, the INC contained information on impacts and the vulnerability of key economic sectors in India and related activities.

India’s INC is well recognized for its scientific rigour and content. While preparing the INC, concerted efforts were made to develop country specific emission factors. About 7% of the emissions were prepared using tier 3 methodology, 23% using tier 2 and 70% of the emission categories were still at the tier 1 level. The tiers indicate the level of refinement in the estimation.

Vijai Sharma Soon after the submission of India’s INC, the Ministry of Environment & Forests launched the preparatory activities for the preparation of India’s Second National Communication (SNC or NATCOM II). In accordance with the provisions of the Convention, the necessary agreed full costs for preparation of the SNC were obtained. The SNC is being prepared in accordance with the guidelines adopted by the Eighth Conference of the Parties in 2002. The SNC is required to be furnished in four years after receipt of the agreed full costs, i.e., June, 2011. The SNC attempts to build on its institutional network created under the INC. The Work Programme has been developed most comprehensively involving R&D institutions, Government Ministries/Departments, autonomous institutions and non-governmental organizations. The component on estimation of inventories entails the participation of 61 institutes and aims to enhance the quality of estimation of emissions from key source categories with respect to INC. The significant feature of the SNC lies in its innovative approach in devising the programme on Vulnerability Assessment and Adaptation wherein as many as 75 institutions are being involved in its implementation. The work programme includes preparation of the national level impact assessment of sectors such as Water, Agriculture, Natural Ecosystems and Forestry, Coastal Zones, Health and Energy. Simultaneously, an attempt has been made to undertake an integrated assessment of Impacts, Vulnerability and Adaptation frameworks in the relevant thematic areas. It is hoped that the participating institutions will not only contribute to the development of information but also generate awareness, while enhancing the capacity of the stakeholders to respond to climate change.

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Regions and Countries
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