UN to rework Paris draft after protest by developing world

Climate negotiations in Bonn got off to a rocky start on Monday with India and other developing countries opposing the first draft for a landmark climate deal to be signed in Paris in December, terming the text an example of “climate apartheid”.

Updated on: Oct 20, 2015, 01:53:33 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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Climate negotiations in Bonn got off to a rocky start on Monday with India and other developing countries opposing the first draft for a landmark climate deal to be signed in Paris in December, terming the text an example of “climate apartheid”.

Negotiators from developing countries feel the draft fails to raise climate finance commitments from rich nations. (Sakib Ali/HT File Photo)

The session at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change headquarters is the last formal discussion before the meeting of 196 countries in Paris to sign a pact to curb global warming.

Negotiators from developing countries — who are concerned the draft aims to push the responsibility of fighting climate change to them — sought a fresh text for Paris discussions.

They also feel the draft fails to raise climate finance commitments from rich nations and there is concern about the year by when global emissions will peak which can have developmental implications for countries such as India.

“We want a total overhaul of the lop-sided draft which does not meet the aspirations of the developing world and climate vulnerability,” said a climate negotiator from a developing country.

Many countries have also accused the co-chairs of the Ad-Hoc Working Group on Durban Platform, the official name for the committee to frame the text of the new deal, of trying to re-write the basic principles of differentiation and equity enshrined in the UN Climate Convention. They also accused them of bias, negotiators who are monitoring the climate talks said.

The new deal, the negotiators from the developing world said, cannot turn the bedrock of convention upside town. “The differentiation of action between the rich and the developing world cannot be undone by the new deal,” the negotiator said.

The first draft will change dramatically and the co-chairs will have to present a re-worked draft by Tuesday.

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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