The session started
with a welcome address by Mr Arcot Ramachandran, who stressed
on the need for tackling the challenge of climate change
with utmost urgency by the global community. He also elaborated
upon the role played by TERI over the years in enabling
a transition towards sustainable societies.
In his inaugural address, the Prime Minister of India Dr
Manmohan Singh congratulated TERI on the 10th anniversary
of DSDS. He acknowledged the fact that TERI has earned respect
over the years for research on the twin challenges of energy
security and climate change. Reflecting on the lessons from
the Copenhagen Summit, he mentioned, “it is important to
ensure that we deliver what we have promised to do”.
He mentioned that the success of international climate change
agreements require consensus on - the science of climate
change, and the need to operate within an ethical framework.
A key barrier to meeting the climate change challenge was
lack of global consensus on burden sharing. In the above
context, he urged the developed world to assume a larger
responsibility, and the developing world to contribute as
well.
Mentioning that the delays in climate action will make
the goal of poverty alleviation even more difficult, the
Prime Minister told that mitigating actions that provide
collateral benefits, such as poverty alleviation and improvement
in environmental quality, need to be given priority. To
conclude, Dr Singh mentioned that the deliberations at the
Summit should not be as nations divided by frontiers, but
as a world united as common humankind.
Reiterating the message conveyed by the Prime Minister,
Dr R K Pachauri mentioned that science can only give us
an assessment, but it is for the world leaders to understand
the impacts of climate change on the society and act urgently.
He stressed that DSDS 2010 aims to bring a resolve among
the diverse stakeholders to deal with climate change challenges,
provided that political will is present.
