The proposal, mooted by Dr R K Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and moved by the ministry, comes in the wake of the release of the first part of IPCC's Fourth Assessment Report.

The report reiterated with greater accuracy the threats from global warming to developing countries like India while also warning countries of the impact of their greenhouse gas emissions.

Sources in the ministry said the Planning Commission too was in favour of such a panel and was looking at the proposal favourably.The proposal suggests that the government set up the taskforce to work on two major issues: reduction in human activity that causes climate change and adaptation to climate change.

For reduction in change-causing activity, the proposal has set out four strategic goals. It suggests that the government work closely with the G-77 and China for a 'consistent and principled' stand in international negotiations when the developed countries ask developing countries (including India) to undertake emissions cuts.

Read simply, it implies that developing countries fortify their position that they (developing countries) cannot allow their economies to suffer on account of the problem caused by the West.