India's National Action Plan on Climate Change: A Path to Green Economy

India is a large developing country of 1.2 billion people, that is, nearly 17 percent of the world's population. A large proportion of this population continues to live in rural areas and depends heavily on agriculture and forestry for its livelihood which is needed the green healthy environment and climate. India's geography and climate are as varied as the country. The Himalayas mark the northern boundaries, the Thar Desert the Western, a 7500 km densely populated coastline along the peninsula, and a heavily monsoon-dependent economy, all make India vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Area of dry land would increase by 11 per cent in the coming years due to climate change. 1.8 billion People would live in countries with absolute water scarcity and the hardest hit would be the rain-fed agriculture which covers 96 per cent of all cultivated land in Sub-Sahara Africa, 87 per cent in South America and 61 per cent in Asia, and the climate variability would aggravate loss of land productivity. Recognising that climate change is global challenge, India is ¬actively engaging in multilateral negotiation in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, in a positive, constructive and forward- looking manner. In this perspective India launched a National Action Plan on Climate Change in 2008.