'My mandate is to bring US on board in climate talks'

India's 54-year-old environment minister Jairam Ramesh has brought climate change issues at the forefront of policy dialogue in the country. Here are experts of an interview on what India is offering and he expects from Cancun climate summit. Chetan Chauhan reports.

Updated on: Dec 3, 2010, 23:35:33 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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India's 54-year-old environment minister Jairam Ramesh has brought climate change issues at the forefront of policy dialogue in the country. Here are experts of an interview on what India is offering and he expects from Cancun climate summit.

India has made two proposals to bring US on board on climate talks. What are the proposals?
I have submitted a proposal on MRV (measurement, review and verification)-LCA (international consultation and analysis) and on technology transfer. Both are linked to each other. There cannot be any progress on MRV issues provided we see quid pro quo from US on technology issues. Both are 10-point proposals. The MRV proposal suggested graded regime for verification of climate mitigation obligations.

In this, I have proposed that for all countries, which had emissions equivalent or more than 1% of the global average, who are also major emitters, the frequency of MRV should be once in three years and for others once in six years. In the technology proposal, we have suggested a regime for free transfer of technology from public regime.

Why you are stressing so much on the US?
My mandate is to play a bridge between US and others.

Who's given you the mandate?
This is not a question? You should know from where it has come? Obviously, from the government.

Even some Basic (Brazil, South Africa, India and China) countries have opposed your proposal on MRV?
The Chinese minister has issued a statement supporting my proposal on ICA. South Africa has some reservations but they have not rejected the proposal. Europeans have supported our proposal. The idea is not to feel defensive on the MRV-LCA issues. It was our prime minister who had contributed to the LCA proposal in the Copenhagen Accord. We should take the lead in bridging the differences. The US will not come on board without MRV-LCA issue sorted out.

For India, what is more important MRV or technology?
For us, the key is the technology agreement. I think there is a historic opportunity to clinch a deal on technology. Agreed by many countries but some are still opposed to it.

You have a different take on agreement on forestry?
We should look for plurilateral agreement instead of a bilateral one. We can have a plurilateral agreement on lines of WTO (World Trade Organisation).

What are your expectations from Cancun?
There can be an agreement on set of operational guidelines for MRV, technology transfer, for green fund and adaptation fund. Do expect a climate treaty.

The developing world is upset that the rich countries have not met their commitment made in Copenhagen.
The rich countries committed fast-track finance of $30 billion by 2012. Even today we don't know the exact pledges for the year 2010. The US is the most disappointing with less than $2 billion as against the promise of $30 billion. Going to Cancun, I am hobbled with the US offer and also with Japan saying they will not agree to second commitment period of Kyoto Protocol. It is not a good sign.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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