German-Indian cooperation to combat marine litter to be intensified
Jochen Flasbarth, State Secretary at the German Environment Ministry, is in New Delhi today, holding talks with the Indian government about preparations for the next UN Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC COP 26) in Glasgow, Scotland and the UN biodiversity summit (CBD COP 15) in Kunming, China. Both conferences will be held in the second half of the year, during Germany’s EU presidency. His talks about climate policy focus on the need for parties to the Paris Agreement to step up their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) as early as 2020 in order to limit global warming to between 1.5 and 2 degrees Celsius. State Secretary Flasbarth will discuss this issue with representatives of India’s civil society and scientific community as well.
Flasbarth and the environment ministry of India will also sign a joint declaration of intent on cooperation in the field of marine litter. This step will strengthen cooperation in the joint working groups on water, waste and circular economy and highlight the importance of the 2030 Agenda and the G20 action plan on marine litter.
For many years, India and Germany have been cooperating closely on climate issues. A joint climate working group is developing concrete climate action programmes and discussing how to further the international climate policy process. Under its International Climate Initiative (IKI), the German Environment Ministry is currently financing 47 projects in India with a total funding volume of 360 million euros.
The New Delhi talks also focus on the preservation of biodiversity, which is one of the most pressing global environmental issues today. Among other topics, delegates at the CBD COP in autumn will also negotiate the global biodiversity strategy for the next ten years. As a mega-diverse country, India is a key partner in this process. The decline in biodiversity across the world continues unabated, posing an increasing threat to the foundations of sustainable economy activity.
Following his official talks in New Delhi, Flasbarth will travel to Gandhinagar to attend the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS COP). The CMS Secretariat is located at the UN campus in Bonn, Germany.