India will stick to equity in climate talks: Natarajan

Times of India , Friday, November 18, 2011
Correspondent : Nitin Sethi, TNN

NEW DELHI: Historical responsibility and equity are at the heart of India's international climate change stance again. Environment ministerJayanthi Natarajan stated that India would insist on unconditional commitments under Kyoto Protocol II by the developed countries and would not agree to talks on a new legally binding deal at Durban.

Natarajan's first elaborate public statement on climate change set the tone for India's position at the upcoming Durban climate talks. She said India and other developing countries had walked the extra mile over the last two years - atCopenhagen and Cancun - as part of confidence building measures but the developed world had done little in return.

"The effort in the last few years has been aimed at giving the issue of historical emissions a quiet burial and refashioning a regime that is anchored in current emissions rather than cumulative emissions... this is unscientific," she said. "My fervent hope is that better sense will prevail at Durban," she added.

The minister was speaking at a briefing for South Asian journalists by Centre for Science and Environment on Thursday.

"There is a consistent attempt to hold Kyoto Protocol hostage to a new legally binding agreement. A long-term binding agreement cannot be a quid pro quo for a second commitment period of Kyoto Protocol," she said. "A new legally binding agreement is not required for talks to continue because the principles of equity and common but differentiated responsibilities already exist in the UN convention and the protocol," she added.

Noting that this was one subject that the opposition parties and the UPA were on the same page on India's international climate change policy, she said for India, it was matter of ensuring sustainable livelihoods and not sustainable lifestyles.

The discussions on legal options should only be looked at when the mandate of Bali Action Plan has been met - indicating the committed finance, technology and emission reduction targets of the developed world had to be addressed before India agreed to discussions on a new deal. She reiterated the BASIC agreement that talks for such a deal should begin only once the IPCCreview and the review of commitments under the convention had been completed.

"For India, Kyoto Protocol is not an issue of competitive politics. It's a substantial issue of discharging historical responsibility," Natarajan said.

Saying that a recession in the west was no excuse for the developed world to recede from its commitments, she said they had to meet up to their pledges on finance.

Answering a question on US President Barack Obama's statement that India and China needed to do more and the US had done enough, Natarajan said they needed to put up a mirror to their actions. "They certainly know and understand what we are saying, they hear but they choose not to listen. US says it can't give commitments because it has to pass it through the senate but other countries too have their parliaments and constituencies but if the world has to move forward, we need to keep talking with each other."

 
SOURCE : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/global-warming/India-will-stick-to-equity-in-climate-talks-Natarajan/articleshow/10774494.cms
 


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