Details about Global Financing Pact Summit, GIAN Scheme and Hydroclimate Extremes

New Global Financing Pact Summit

The official agenda of the Summit was to “provide the opportunity to examine interactions between multilateral development bank reform, mobilisation of private capital, climate finance, green infrastructure and solutions related to debt” in order to achieve “a more balanced financial partnership between the North and South.”

India also participated.

The UNFCCC, Kyoto Protocol, and the Paris Agreement call for financial assistance from Parties with more financial resources (Developed Countries) to those that are less endowed and more vulnerable (Developing Countries).

This is in accordance with the principle of “Common but Differentiated Responsibility and Respective Capabilities” (CBDR).

International Financial System is changing

• New actors like India, China, Brazil are now key actors in international politics and economy.
• World is going through multiple crisis
  • Debt crisis by low- and middle-income countries
  • Poverty
  • Inflation
  • Climate Change
  • Russia Ukraine Crisis
  • Democratic backsliding
  • Pandemic
• Economists estimated that the developing countries will require $2.4 trillion per year to cut emissions and deal with climate change.
• To address the existing and emerging shared concerns, poorer countries from the Global South (such as Zambia, Senegal, Kenya, among others) are keen on renegotiating the terms of international finance.

Takeaway from Summit

• The Summit announced the unlocking of an additional USD 200 billion lending capacity for emerging economies. The World Bank introduced disaster clauses to suspend debt payments during extreme weather events.
• The IMF announced the allocation of USD 100 billion in SDRs (Special Drawing Rights) for vulnerable countries, although some SDRs still require approval from the US Congress.
• The EU called for increased coverage of global emissions by Carbon Pricing Mechanisms and allocating a portion of revenues to climate finance.
• The Summit indicated that the long-awaited USD 100 billion climate finance goal would be achieved this year. This commitment was made at UNFCCC COP 15 in Copenhagen in 2009.

GIAN Scheme

Under the Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN) in Higher Education, the National Institute of Technology, Tiruchi, has initiated a program with the objective of harnessing the expertise of scientists and entrepreneurs in the talent pool.

What is GIAN program?

• Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN) in Higher Education was launched in 2015. It is a program of Ministry of Human Resource and Development.
• GIAN aims at tapping the talent pool of scientists and entrepreneurs to engage with the institutes of higher education in India to augment the country’s existing academic resources, accelerate the pace of quality reforms, and further strengthen India’s scientific and technological capabilities.

GIAN is envisaged to achieve the following objectives:

1. To increase the footfalls of reputed international faculty in the Indian academic institutes.
2. Provide opportunity to our faculty to learn and share knowledge and teaching skills in cutting edge areas.
3. To provide opportunity to our students to seek knowledge and experience from reputed International faculty.
4. To create avenue for possible collaborative research with the international faculty.
5. Develop high quality course material in niche areas, both through video and print that can be used by a larger body of students and teachers.
6. To document and develop new pedagogic methods in emerging topics of national and international interest.

Hydroclimate Extremes

A recent study at Banaras Hindu University examined the impact of global warming on hydroclimate extremes over the Indian River Basins (IRBs).

• Hydroclimatic extremes are extreme events that can have substantial impacts on human societies and ecosystems. These events include Floods, Droughts, Heatwaves, and Rainstorms.
• The study used high-resolution simulated precipitation data from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project-6 (CMIP6) experiments

Findings:

The findings indicate that the frequency of extreme rainfall is expected to increase over the Western Ghats and Northeast River basins, while heavy rainfall intensity is projected to increase over the Upper Ganga and Indus basins.

The research highlights an agricultural drought in the lower Ganga basin due to a decline in mean rainfall.

Significance:

• It emphasizes the need for policymakers to develop strategies to manage water surplus or scarcity. The study predicts a 4% to 10% increase in heavy rainfall over the western part of Indian River basins and significant precipitation changes in specific areas.
• These changes in hydroclimate extremes could have a substantial impact on agriculture, health, and socio-economic conditions.
• The study also identifies major hotspots for future urban flooding in highly populated cities, suggesting that policymakers should design basin-specific climate adaptation and mitigation strategies, including water and emergency services policies, to minimize the risk associated with extreme events in these