Termed deal-breaker, India takes on rich nations

Environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan took on Canada and small island nations yesterday night for terming India as a 'deal breaker' at climate summit and said "legally binding" cannot be confused with "ambition".

Updated on: Dec 10, 2011, 09:42:29 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, Durban

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Environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan took on Canada and small island nations on Friday night for terming India as a 'deal breaker' at climate summit and said "legally binding" cannot be confused with "ambition".

"It would be helpful if we do not talk at each other and do not prejudge each other," she said at a late night meeting with ministers representing different groups at the climate conference in the port city of Durban.

The negotiations continued till late Saturday morning with an effort to find a compromise on eight points of the text emerging from the green room, known as Ibadha.

European Union negotiators said the agreement was possible on with operatonalising the new climate treaty after ratification by each country after 2020. Indian negotiators, however, said "wait and watch"

India had been branded as a "deal-breaker" at Durban for not agreeing to legally binding but got some support of other Basic group --- China, Brazil and South Africa -- at a late night green room meeting.

"We cannot allow another process (European Union's roadmap on binding treaty by 2015) to start," said a senior South African negotiator admitting that there was overwhelming support for a having a climate treaty by 2015.

Natarajan's speech received with thumping of desks pointed out that there was an attempt to junk the climate protocol, Kyoto Protocol, agreed 14 years ago in a cavaliar manner.

"Countries which had signed and ratified it are walking away without even a polite goodbye. And yet, pointing at others," she said while referring to remarks by Canada that India was blocking an agreement on a roadmap to sign a new climate treaty by 2015.

Admitting that position of India and island nations may be different on climate issues but their concerns were same. Over 600 island in India may get submerged because of climate change just like some island nations.

"We are absolutely at the forefront of the vulnerability of climate change," she said.

A negotiator of island nation, however, said they will stick to their stand of seeking a legally binding climate treaty for all nations by 2015.

Seeking equity and common but differentiated responsibility (CBDR) at part of Durban climate deal was not unreasonble, she said, India was asking for "review of actions of the developed countries" so that an ambitious climate deal can be struck.

"I too raise my voice for urgency," she said.

She asked whether any country had made a commitment like Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had made on climate change. That was India's per capita emissions will never rise above that of the developed world.

Natarajan pointed out three flaws in the Durban declaration texts.

First was no emission reduction target for developed countries signatories of the Kyoto Protocol, second no time for ratification of the second commitment period of the protocol and no indication of how the gap in the implementation will be avoided.

"My biggest concern with reference to the texts is that there is no reference to the fundamental principle of equity and CBDR," she said.

She also sought urgent implementation of the Bali Action Plan of 2007 and operationalisation of Cancun Agreements of 2009.

"We should have an ambitious implementation phase till 2013 and then go to the Review in 2013-15 to make an assessment based on science and commitments," she said.

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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