With Stubble Burning Issues, Will India be Able to Meet its Paris Agreement Commitments?

India was a vital contributor to the enforcement of the Paris agreement yet India has one of the most polluted capitals in the world.

Agriculture's share of India's total emissions has gradually declined. In absolute terms, however, agricultural emissions have risen to levels comparable to China's.

Paris Agreement:

International organizations came together with a consensual agreement in the Paris agreement held in 2022 to curtail the rise of global temperature this century below 2-degree Celsius, above pre-industrial levels; and also pursue efforts to limit the increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius

The assessment report 6  of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) - 1 Working Group specifically underlined that rising levels of air pollution had has reduced the intensity as well as the frequency of monsoon rains in India and the rest of South Asia.

The 26th edition of the UN Amendment Conference of the Parties (CoP26) will be hosted by the United Kingdom in Glasgow from October 31 to November 12 with aiming at accelerating the rate at which the world was set to achieve the Paris agreement.

India – A Key Player in Fight Against Global Warming?

India positioned itself as a key player in the fight against global warming in 2016, by ratifying the landmark Paris Agreement and also playing a "vitally productive" role at the Marrakesh Climate Summit to ensure actions that are based on the principles of “climate equality and justice”

However, according to the 2020 index of most polluted countries India still stands at number 3 on the list it also has 22 of the world’s 30 most polluted cities according to the world air quality summary by iqair.com.

Stubble Burning & The Pollution

The burning of stubble in the vast fields in the states of Haryana and Punjab, along with the falling temperatures and decreased wind speed during winters, contribute to air pollution in North India and particularly in the worlds second-most polluted city.

Stubble burning can contribute between 20% to 70% of Delhi’s air pollution woes during October and November. This number has however decreased during the pandemic.

For the residents of Delhi, the winter months are very challenging as the stubble burning combined with the bustling winds that carry the smoke at really high speeds raise the Air quality index above 300 on average,  some days up to 600-800 which is supremely dangerous for everyone especially those with breathing disorders like asthma.

Solution:

The only thing that the government can do is to bring up alternate ways to fix stubble burning like buying and utilizing happy seeders etc. and encouraging farmers as a whole to adopt new practices just to reduce the amount of pollution that we proliferate every year.

The very fact that the government has taken and played such a vital role in such big international organisations and yet is unable to deliver on their promises due to not properly guiding the farmers will have very large repercussions on its international policies.