Rajendra Shende
Mr. Rajendra Shende, IIT-Alumni and former Director in the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Mr. Shende is founder and Chairman of TERRE Policy Centre and is leading expert in sustainable development technologies and policies at global and local level. In United Nations he coordinated the implementation of singularly successful global environmental accord for the protection of the ozone layer. He was leading proponent of leveraging inter linkages of the multilateral environmental agreements, mainly the Montreal Protocol (Ozone Agreement) and Kyoto Protocol (Climate agreement ). He advised in146 developing countries to implement the Montreal Protocol and derive the climate benefits by mitigating emissions of Green House Gases ( GHGs) . He strategized social media approaches for UNEP to promote implementation of the global accords at local level. He was one of the first bloggers in UN-system. Mr.Shende was Coordinating Lead Author of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC) that shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 with Al Gore. He is recipient of number of global and national awards that include Climate Protection award from USA. His was the first ever programme in UN system to win Stratospheric Ozone Layer Protection award from USA. The global partnership he forged to deploy Natural Refrigerants won Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government award. India’s former President Dr.Abdul Kalam felicitated him for the his work in multi-agency Public-Private Partnership that developed a model product Solar Refrigerator for preservation of vaccine. Mr Shende was recognized by UNEP for his unique approaches in creating action-based awareness , networking and capacity building programme , which later became models for other environmental agreements. Regular speaker, he has addressed the public meetings in Beijing University, MIT, Berkeley, INSEAD, HSC He published more than 100 awareness documents including ‘ Two Protocols One Solution’ and ‘ Networking Counts’ In TERRE, a not-for-profit organization he mentors the strategies for energy and food security through developing evidence based policies and promoting action based projects and partnerships. He continues to be advisor for United Nations activities and spends his time between India and France.

Himalayas not barriers, mountains of opportunities in India-China ties
April 1, 2025
The Himalayan mountains that stand between India and China are often conceived as barriers and impediment to their mutual relations and even raison d’etre for the bilateral conflicts over last nearly 65 years. Contrary to that belief, the Himalayas have in fact been the facilit...
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Trading with Trump: Can Modi turn the climate tide?
February 12, 2025
After co-chairing the ‘Summit for Action on Artificial Intelligence’ with his host Emmanuel Macron, President of France, Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, is now headed to the United States for the second leg of his latest overseas tour. In the US, Modi will hold his ...
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Using AI to douse fires in Los Angeles
January 16, 2025
The wildfires raging in Southern California are far from simple wake-up calls. They are deafening sirens of scores of ambulances rushing and carrying the parts of our planet with severe burns! Indeed, this western part of the world was known for the extreme riches of Silicon Vall...
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COP28 in Dubai made history, would COP29 in Baku make future?
November 11, 2024
There is a disturbing contrast between the political backdrop when COP28 was held in Dubai last year and political heat that exists now as COP29 starts in Azerbaijini capital Baku from November 11. The conflicts between Ukraine-Russia and Israel-Palestine, witnessed during COP2...
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Involve the future in ‘UN Summit of the Future’
September 23, 2024
‘A once-in-a-generation opportunity’ is how the United Nations describes the ‘Summit of the Future’ that began on Sunday at the UN Head Quarters in New York. The Summit is described as ‘a high-level event, bringing world leaders together to forge a new international c...
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‘Huddle negotiations’ run into hurdles in Bonn Climate meet
June 24, 2024
With the global climate change negotiations moving forward with dreadfully inadequate actions and suicidally slow speed for over a decade and the divisions between developing and the developed world reaching new levels, a new terminology called ‘huddle-negotiations’ is be...
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Year 2024: Hottest elections trapped in triple crisis
March 25, 2024
The year 2024 is all about voting. As many as 76 of the 196 countries in the world will be engaged in the national elections in which people citizens across the world will decide who will govern them for next few years. The elections, called festivals of democracy, are spread t...
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CMSCOP14: Birdwatching can help humans cope with climate change
February 12, 2024
‘Nature knows no borders’ is the slogan for the most important UN wildlife conference this year. The 14th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Migratory Species of Wild Animals CMSCoP14 will be hosted by the Government of Uzbekistan in the historic ...
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COP28 moves climate debate from ‘just words’ to just transition
December 28, 2023
Oil from the United Arab Emirates is shipped to the outside world starting from narrow Strait of Hormuz and then wider Gulf of Oman and then into vast Ocean to reach various part of the world. Under Presidency of the UAE, the recently concluded climate change negotiations, COP28 ...
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What is expected and what is not expected from COP28 in Dubai
December 1, 2023
About 80,000 participants including political leaders, diplomats, business managers, academicians, researchers have gathered in Dubai to participate in the 28th Conference of Parties or COP28. The Conference of Parties is held annually by United Nations Framework Convention on Cl...
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World needs transformational diplomacy, not transactional diplomacy
July 13, 2023
A mighty military parade would march down the Avenue de Champs Elysée, the most dignified avenue in France, while fighter jets would zoom past up in French skies to celebrate ‘Fête nationale française’ –French National Day on July 14. It is also called Bastille Day...
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G7 meeting failed to read LeMay leaflets
May 21, 2023
Before the bombing of Hiroshima, under the orders of American General Curtis LeMay, millions of leaflets were dropped from American military planes warning the citizens of grave consequences of war weapons. The leaflets informed of urgent precautions like safe shelter or evacuati...
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