SBS Dateline | India Hots Up

India is caught in a vicious circle in the climate change debate… like China and Brazil it’s been told it’s exempt from agreements to cut emissions because it’s developing, but the fact the country is developing means it’s coming under closer scrutiny for its pollution.

The United States and Australia have suggested in the lead-up to the Copenhagen summit that nations like India need to set clear targets for reducing the future growth of emissions.

But many government officials in India are outraged that countries like the USA have not committed themselves to any serious cuts, but are lecturing India on its responsibilities… some even describe it as bullying.

Dateline has been speaking to Indians already feeling the effects of global warming, like the residents of an island disappearing under rising sea levels through no fault of their own, and those whose increasingly westernised lifestyles are adding to the pollution problem.

Reporter Amos Roberts asks what India is doing to tackle the problems, and if rich countries should be allowed to tell poorer countries what they should be doing.

View a photo gallery from Amos's trip.

On air: 22nd November 2009