India’s former chief climate negotiator at the global stage, who was also the architect of the Kyoto Protocol, Vijai Sharma, has died at the age of 75 in the United States after suffering a stroke.
Vijai Sharma fought for the rights of India and other developing countries at international climate negotiation platforms. During the Kyoto Protocol formation in 1997, he strongly safeguarded the interests of the developing countries of the Global South to ensure that the primary responsibility for reducing the impact of climate change was taken up by rich and developed countries like the US.
Sharma was a 1974 batch IAS officer who served as the Environment Secretary, and later as the Chief Information Commissioner. He was a postgraduate law student from Howard University and had a passion for history. Sharma co-authored a few books on the forests of India along with his wife and fellow IAS officer, Rita Sharma.
During his first stint as Joint Secretary in the Environment Ministry between 1995 and 2001, he became India’s chief negotiator at international climate negotiations. During that time, he was also instrumental in ensuring that Delhi hosted the COP8 summit in 2002.
After serving as Cabinet Secretary in other ministries, Sharma returned to the Environment Ministry as Secretary in 2008. By this time, developed countries had already begun the process of dismantling the Protocol and replacing it with something they were more comfortable with. This was also the time when India’s environmental governance came under strain. There was a sharp increase in the number of industrial and infrastructure projects, testing environmental norms in the country. During this time, Sharma presided over a period of strengthening India’s environmental regulatory structure to bring greater transparency and benefit to the homeland.
“Vijay Sharma was the quintessential civil servant—fearless in giving advice but faithful in execution, even when his advice was not taken. I have many fond memories of my close association with him for a decade and a half. He had wide interests and possessed an irreverent sense of humour. He loved it when he himself became the subject of humour, laughing at the description someone once gave him—‘Sir Humphrey Sharma’ (Humphrey Appleby was a character from the British TV series Yes, Minister),” said the Environment Minister under whom Sharma served as Secretary, Jairam Ramesh.
Even after retiring, he did not stop working for the environment and became an expert member of the National Green Tribunal, the new institution created at that time. He was later appointed to the Central Information Commission (CIC).
