Cement Energy and Environment

The shift of supremacy of decision-making, says K K Venugopal, senior advocate, is important for water's effective utilisation since most national bodies can only issue guidelines. Their implementation can be done only by the state government. In November last yea r, civil society members met under the banner of Forum for Policy Dialogue on Water Conflict and concluded that the move would be resisted by the states. "The multi-faceted water conflicts in Water in the Constitution Entry 17 in State List: "Water, that is to say, water supplies, irrigation and canals, drainage and embankments, water storage and water power subject to the provisions of Entry 56 of List I" Entry 56 in Union List: "Regulation and development of inter-state rivers and river valleys to the extent to which such regulation and development under the control of the Union is declared by Parliament by law to be expedient in the public interest" the country cannot be addressed by merely shifting water to the Concurrent List," says K J Joy, coordinator of the forum. "We need democratic institutions at various levels which can decide on allocations, entitlements and uses," he says. Concurrent listing of water can only take the legal framework forward if it fills gaps in the existing governance of water, says Philippe Gu llet, professor of international and environmental law at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He is also a senior visiting fellow at the Centre for Policy Research, in Delhi. The move will enable long– term planning on the utilisation of water, thinks Tushaar Shah, senior fellow at the International Water Management Institute (IWMI} in Gujarat. IWMI is a non-profit based in Sri Lanka. Shah, however, fears the Centre may fail to deliver, as it has done in the past. "Water is a community resou rce and needs to be left under the discretion of the community," says Himanshu Thakkar, coordinator at the Centre for Water Policy, a non– profit in Delhi. The government is pushing for the move under international pressure, he alleges, adding, "For the past five to six years the World Bank has been stressing to put water under direct control of the Union government." This would legally make river-linking projects and international involvement in water bod ies easier. "Much can be done to promote a holistic view of water even within the ambit of the existing Constitutional entries. Inter-state relations and a constructive relationship between the state and the civi l wciety can also be improved," says lyer. According to A K Ghosain, head of the department of civil engineering in liT Delhi, what is required is proper implementation of the River Boards Act, which provides for the overall growth and development of interstate rivers. He also maintains that local level participation in decision-making should be encou raged. For this, "permanent water user associations shou ld be set up at the local level which should interact directly with the River Basin Commissions," he says. Courtesy: Down To Earth, 1-15 May, 2011, P 10 Climate Change & Global Warming CANCUN, MEXIC0-2010 ELEMENTS OF AGREEMENT AND INDIA'S REVIEW The Conference of the Parties (COP), meets every year to review the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol. COP16 Conference (29th November to 1Oth December 201 0) held in Cancun , Mexico ended with the adoption of a balanced package of decisions dubbed as the 'Cancun Agreements' that will set governments firmly on the path towards low-emission futures and support enhanced action on climate change in the developing world. With the main objective to stabilize green house gases and reduce global warming, many countries joined a non binding international treaty over a decade ago - the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Later, a number of nations approved an addition to the treaty: the Kyoto Protocol, which has more powerful (and legally binding) measures. Currently there are 194 parties to the UNFCCC and 193 parties to the Koyoto Protocol. 'Parties' refers to all the nation states that signed and ratified both the international treaties, committing to observe and comply with its terms regarding international cooperation against climate change. COP16/CMP6 is the 16th edition of Conference of the Parties (COP) of UNFCCC and the 6th Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of 12 . -