Geneva [Switzerland], September 18 : India Water Foundation President Arvind Kumar has called for practical and predictable pathways to mobilise adequate climate finance, saying that climate change is ultimately a human rights crisis and that vulnerable communities must not bear a disproportionate burden of climate impacts.
Speaking during the 63rd Session of the UN Human Rights Council, Kumar said inadequate and inaccessible climate finance constrains countries’ ability to advance economic and social rights, particularly for communities most exposed to climate change.
He stressed that adaptation finance should be new, additional, reliable and largely grant-based, while supporting the international goal of tripling adaptation finance by 2035.
Highlighting India’s experience in accessing international climate finance, Kumar said India has mobilised USD 1.16 billion through UNFCCC financial mechanisms, including USD 803.9 million from the Green Climate Fund.
He also pointed to India’s NDC 3.0 target of reducing emissions intensity by 47 per cent by 2035, describing it as part of the country’s broader climate action efforts.
Kumar cautioned that climate financing models that add to the debt burden of developing countries could constrain their ability to protect vulnerable populations and deliver essential economic and social rights.
The India Water Foundation advocated climate finance that is accessible, predictable and grant-based, and guided by the principles of equity, climate justice and Common but Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities (CBDR-RC).
The Foundation said climate finance should ultimately translate into stronger resilience, human dignity and rights-based development, particularly for communities facing the greatest exposure to climate impacts.