Durban mandate in the works?

Times of India , Sunday, December 11, 2011
Correspondent : Nitin Sethi, TNN

DURBAN: Around 2:30 in the morning on Saturday, the climate change conference was still generating drafts of possible decisions that the 195 participating countries could agree to and provide a Durban mandate.

By midnight, the talks had taken a deeper plunge with the small island countries standing up to the demand what Europe wanted - a slow death of the Kyoto Protocol and launch of a new treaty that would kick in by 2015.

This would effectively lay to rest the burden of historical emissions on the developed world and shift the major onus of action to prevent climate change on India and other emerging economies.

In the meeting of ministers, as the small island states stood up to defend EU, Union environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan's rousing speech got a standing ovation, with China and India sticking to their stand.

New Delhi and Beijing demanded that existing commitments be met first, and then an assessment be made of whether the rich nations had met its obligations or reneged. It demanded that any future discussions be based on equity and principle of common but differentiated responsibilities.

Instead, the EU moved to delay its existing commitments under the Kyoto Protocol. The ploy was: delay them enough that by the time the Kyoto Protocol II became operational (2014 at the earliest or 2015) it would be time to junk it and jump on to a new global deal, where its burden of emission reductions would be lessened.

The talks were extended by a day, with negotiators believing it could go well into Saturday evening before Durban achieves a breakthrough or end up as a debacle. The challenge before hosts, South African, lies in not only to get the ministers of some key countries to agree to its proposal for the Kyoto Protocol II and a new legal deal, but also to ensure that all the countries accept it.

 
SOURCE : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/global-warming/Durban-mandate-in-the-works/articleshow/11065523.cms
 


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