India in a Warming World: Integrating Climate Change and Development.

• Author: Gonenc, Defne

India in a Warming World: Integrating Climate Change and Development

Navroz K. Dubash (ed.)

New Delhi, Oxford University Press, 2019, 576 pages, ISBN-13 (eBook): 978-0-19-909839-2

In India climate change claims lives, spreads diseases and destroys livelihoods due to the country's geographical exposure and low preparedness. Extreme poverty and inequality further exacerbate these impacts. However, India is a country of 1.4 billion people, with a dependency on oil and gas imports for urgent developmental needs. It is a growing economy but its historical responsibility towards climate change is very low. (1) These features make India an invigorating case for studying climate change. India in a Warming World: Integrating Climate Change and Development, edited by Navroz K. Dubash, is an excellent book covering various aspects of climate change in an Indian context. It is an engaging book providing a rich discussion about the multifaceted features of climate change. As an open access book from Oxford University Press (2) and with a holistic approach incorporating science, politics, and the policy of climate change, it provides an accessible and valuable source for academics, policy-makers and students working on climate change.

The book is composed five sections and 29 chapters. Each section discusses a different dimension of climate change. The first section, entitled "Climate Change Impacts", includes three chapters on observed and future climate change impacts in India. It also discusses the association between climate change and specific events and sets out narratives regarding climate impacts on human and animal life (p.7). Since the scientific debate about climate change is not over, starting the book with what we know about climate change and how we know it is quite a useful introduction for the reader.

The second section, entitled "International Debates and Negotiations" compromises 10 chapters and forms a major part of the book. It includes discussions about global climate change negotiations and the Indian position in these talks. In addition to academics, it contains chapters written by leading Indian climate negotiators. This section showcases the uneven nature of the global negotiating process, the shifting positions of countries and country blocs, the reasons behind such position changes, and the unwillingness of developed countries to finance initiatives and provide technology transfer. It illustrates the fact that solidarity within...