Staff Reporter
WINDHOEK – As part of the World Environment Day celebrations today, the High Commission of India in Namibia is undertaking a series of steps to highlight his country’s commitment to protecting the environment.
To save energy and reduce energy consumption in Namibia, the High Commission of India has replaced all normal incandescent light bulbs in the office and residences of staff with LED bulbs at the cost of over N$150 000.
The Indian government has also launched an innovative scheme called Unnat Jeevan by Affordable LEDs and Appliances for All (UJALA), under which light bulbs in all government establishments in that country have been replaced by LED bulbs.
The initiative is part of government’s efforts to spread the message of energy efficiency in the country.
The UJALA scheme aims to promote efficient use of energy at the residential level; enhance the awareness of consumers about the efficacy of using energy efficient appliances and aggregating demand to reduce the high initial costs thus facilitating higher uptake of LED lights by residential users.
Following the lead by Namibian President Hage Geingob in launching a nationwide clean-up campaign last month, the High Commission of India in Windhoek undertook a cleanliness drive inside the premises of its offices on May 31.
The officers and staff of the High Commission also planted a few saplings to contribute to the success of the initiative.
The High Commissioner of India to Namibia Kumar Tuhin told New Era that the Indian philosophy and lifestyle has long been rooted in the concept of co-existence with nature.
With “Beat Plastic Pollution” as the theme for this year’s edition, the world is coming together to combat single-use plastic pollution.
Tuhin said India has demonstrated tremendous global leadership on climate change and the need to shift to a low carbon economy.
The country has one of the highest recycling rates in the world.
Tuhin noted that the challenge of climate change calls for extraordinary vision, leadership, compassion and wisdom.
India has taken several measures to combat climate change and to promote clean environment. Some of these initiatives highlighted are that India, even though not a part of the problem has been an active and constructive participant in the search for solutions.
India declared a voluntary goal of reducing the emissions intensity of its GDP by 20–25 percent, over 2005 levels, by 2020, despite having no binding mitigation obligations as per the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
A slew of policy measures was launched to achieve this goal. As a result, the emission intensity of India’s GDP has decreased by 12 percent between 2005 and 2010. India is committed to reduce the emissions intensity of its GDP by 33 to 35 percent by 2030 from 2005 level. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in its Emission Gap Report 2014 has recognized India as one of the countries on course to achieving its voluntary goal.
India has been successful in improving carbon stock in its forest by about 5 percent from 6 621.5 million tons in 2005 to 6 941 million tonnes in 2013 and working towards creating an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent through additional forest.
India has undertaken to achieve about 40 percent cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy resources by 2030 with the help of transfer of technology and low cost international finance including from Green Climate Fund (GCF). The government of India has set a target of 175GW of renewable power by 2022 and out of this 100GW will be achieved through solar mission target.
The Indian wind industry aims to achieve the government’s 60 GW capacity target ahead of the 2022 deadline as it has already crossed the 34 GW mark.