“Positive that countries will accommodate principle of equity and CBDR (Common But Differentiated Responsibility) in decisions,” says Prakash Javadekar, Union environment, forests and climate change minister, in an interview to Nitin Sethi on the eve of the ministerial round of UN climate change conference at Lima, Peru. Edited excerpts:
Does India continue to stand by the principles of CBDR and equity?
We are confident that all developed and developing countries will accommodate the principles of CBDR and equity in the basic draft elements and decisions of the ad hoc working group on Durban Platform (under which the 2015 agreement will be negotiated).
Expectations out of Lima...
Lima is a precursor to the negotiations at Paris in 2015. We are going with full confidence and hope that Lima round will reach a positive conclusion leading to a good Paris agreement.
Will you take up the issue of technology transfer from developed countries to poor countries to fight climate change?
We will definitely discuss the issue at Lima but Lima is not the end of the road. I had told a US delegate earlier at the Montreal Protocol meeting in Paris (in November) too that if the planet is going through such a critical situation, we must find a joint collaborative approach to find new clean technologies. After all we are doing the joint collaboration to find the god particle too. Such an approach could resolve the issues of Intellectual Property Resources as well.
India’s reaction to the US-China joint announcement...
It is too low on ambition. The two countries could have done much more. India is already doing many things aggressively to address climate change. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already decided that India will increase the country's solar power capacity fivefold. That is a massive task we have taken on.
What about India taking on new targets for the post-2020 period?
Wait for the appropriate time please. How can I react on that right now?
On whether India shall stand as firm on climate change negotiations, as it did at World Trade Organization, even if that requires standing alone?
I am holding a press conference on Friday; I shall give an answer at the press conference for everyone.
On India working within the Like Minded Developing Countries.
We are working positively with everyone, we shall engage with all country parties constructively. Let me talk on this to everyone in the Friday meeting with media.
Will India’s stand at the international negotiations be consistent with the past?
We shall be more consistent than the previous government. We will straighten the U-turn once taken and will be more consistent and constructive in our approach.
On the TSR Subramanian report to revise existing environmental laws.
We have accepted the report for consideration. It shall soon be put in public domain. I have authorised its release. The existing processes have been non-transparent, the rules unclear and clumsy and the laws infirm. This has forced the courts to intervene so often in environmental cases. Why would they need to do so if all this is set right?
What do you plan to do with the report and the idea of a new law as suggested?
We shall bring a new law by the budget session of Parliament. We shall soon set up a drafting committee to draw the law. I want the law to be simple and straightforward.
