COPENHAGEN, Dec 17 – Regretting the absence of an agreed text just a day ahead of the Summit level talks at the climate change meet here, India has said the entire process of negotiations have been “very badly handled” but made it clear that the developing countries were not to be blamed for it, reports PTI. “Unfortunately, I feel that this entire conference, the entire process has been very, very badly handled,” Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said after India met other BASIC countries – Brazil, South Africa and China – for almost three hours last night to discuss the plan of action as very little work could be done on the two texts that parties have actually been working on for more than a week.
The developing countries fear that the mysterious draft prepared by Denmark would be sprung upon hours before the high-level segment of climate talks begins, making it difficult for any world leader to oppose.
“India, China, South Africa and Brazil, the four BASIC countries, are working very closely together and if the talks fail, it would be because the process managed by Denmark would have failed,” Ramesh said.
“If the talks fail, it would be because the developed countries have not fulfilled their commitments under the Kyoto Protocol. The developing countries led by India, China, Brazil, South Africa, the African group and the G-77 have worked very hard to bring the negotiations back on track. The blame should not be laid on our doorstep,” the Minister said.
“The blame is fairly and squarely with the developed countries and I’m very happy that one of the positive outcomes of Copenhagen is the cementing of ties between India and China,” he said.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will be leading the Indian delegation at the Summit level talks scheduled for tomorrow.
The developing countries are angry that the mysterious draft text that has been prepared by the Danish presidency has not been circulated for the rest of the parties to study. There is a strong suspicion that this is a deliberate move on the part of the developed nations.
Noting that it is inevitable that the blamegame is going to start at some stage, Ramesh said that while India, China and other BASIC countries have tried, there was a “determined effort” to ensure that the Kyoto Protocol gets into “intensive care and it is in intensive care.”
Maintaining that there is a likelihood of the Kyoto Protocol being abandoned, he said the negotiations have taken place in bad faith and “there is a huge trust deficit here.”
“I think it is incredible that we are almost at the ultimate day of the negotiations and we don’t have texts on which we can negotiate,” he said, hoping that a text will be put on the table.
He said all developing countries want an agreement. “We want negotiations to succeed and we are certain if there are disappointments from Copenhagen, the developing countries are not to blame for this,” he said.
The Minister felt that the negotiations would probably end in a political agreement but it was the “content of the political declaration” that was still uncertain. “A political declaration is inevitable but the question is what is the content of the political declaration,” he said.
Chaos ensued yesterday when it was announced that the Danish presidency had prepared texts on both tracks dealing with the Kyoto Protocol and the Long Term Cooperative Action (LCA).
Ramesh hoped that the negotiations will resume and an agreed text will be produced for the heads of state and government meeting.
Holding that India will be “profoundly impacted” by climate change, he said, “In many ways, we have the highest vulnerability on multiple dimensions. We have tremendous obligations to our own people by way of both adaptation and mitigating policies and programmes.”
