India doing enough to combat global warming

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday rubbished criticism from developed nations that India was not doing enough to combat global warming, saying it fully recognised the importance of the issue. He also said that domestic capacity should be strengthened to meet the challenges arising out of growing energy needs.

"We fully recognise not just how important this issue is to India but also our own obligation to address it," he said apparently referring to criticism from developed nations on the issue. The Prime Minister was addressing a national conference of state ministers of environment and forests in New Delhi.

"Our energy needs will increase sharply in the decades to come. We can and must walk a different road, an environment-friendly road," he said. For this, Singh said, access to new technologies available with developed countries was required. "We must also make own investments in environment-friendly technologies."

For strengthening scientific foundations of environment policies and capacity to deal with the challenges, he said, "We must involve more stakeholders particularly youth to lead the movement for environmental protection."

As a step towards this direction, he asked States to create their own action plans consistent with the National Action Plan on Climate Change unveiled last year.