Climate change impacts small nations more
Speaking at the Delhi Sustainable Development Summit, President of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai lamented that the last 30 years of war in his country had resulted in “the massive destruction of trees, soil, earth and all the support systems on which his country had survived”.
Mr Karzai also regretted that growing consumerism (which he described as the arrival of money in Afghanistan) was resulting in a lavish and unsustainable lifestyle.
Two other leaders — President of the Dominican Republic Dr Leonel Fernandez and President of Seychelles James Alix Michel highlighted how the impact of climate change was being more strongly felt in the small nation states.
Mr James Alix Michel of Seychelles stressed that a small island state like the Seychelles with a population of 85,00 cannot fight climate change alone and needs concrete steps to be taken by the remaining 200 nation states in order to arrive at a joint global strategy.
Dr Leonel Fernandez of the Dominican Republic also emphasised how the Dominican Republic was vulnerable to rising sea levels and hurricanes whose intensity was on the rise.
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Arunachal integral part of India: PM
New Delhi, Feb. 3: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said that Arunachal Pradesh has always been an integral part of India and will remain so and the Chinese map showing the Northeastern state as its part will not change the reality.
This “simple fact” was conveyed by the Prime Minister to a delegation of All Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union which met him here on Wednesday, AAPSU president Takam Tatung said. “Arunachal Pradesh has always been an integral part of India and will remain so,” Tatung quoted Singh as saying.
On the issue of China issuing stapled visa to residents of Arunachal Pradesh, Dr Singh said the Centre was putting its sincere efforts to solve the problem at the earliest.
The PM said Arunachal cannot remain in isolation and the fruit of development should reach there like the rest of the country. “During my visit to Arunachal Pradesh in 2008, creation of infrastructure in the state had been outlined and our governments both at the Centre and in the state are doing best to accelerate the pace of development,” Mr Tatung said quoting the Prime Minister. The delegation also brought to the notice of the PM the decades-old Chakma-Hajong issue in the state. —PTI
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