New Delhi: India on Friday said the UN Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), seeking common but
differentiated responsibilities, should remain the foundation
of climate change action irrespective of the outcome of next
month's summit on global warming in Copenhagen.
"Whatever outcome is possible at Copenhagen, we must
ensure that post-Copenhagen, the UNFCCC continue to remain the
foundation of our climate change action," Shyam Saran, the
Special Envoy of the Prime Minister on climate change, said.
"The Bali Action Plan equally must continue to form the
mandate of our continuing work. We must guard against a weak,
declaratory outcome, which then becomes the template for our
future work," he said at the concluding day of a meet on
climate change at Barcelona.
As per Bali Action Plan, developed countries are
committed to cut their carbon emissions to a certain level
while keeping out the developing nations from such bindings.
Lamenting the apparent lack of progress in deliberations
among industrialised and developing nations, he made it clear
that India is not prepared to give up too early and settle for
a "weak and merely declaratory" outcome.
"We will continue to exert all our efforts towards what
the Bali Action Plan has mandated us to do -- aim for a
comprehensive, balanced and above all, an equitable outcome at
Copenhagen, which has a level of ambition in consonance with
the urgent and compelling nature of the global challenge of
climate change," Saran said.
He also asked the developed countries to come up with
significant emission reduction targets, both for the medium
term and the long term and "do so as a part of their legal
obligations as per Kyoto Protocol."
Asserting that India was taking several steps to combat
the threat, he referred to National Action Plan on Climate
Change, enlisting ways to combat climate change, which was
unveiled by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last year.
"We will do what we can within the limits of our
resources. But it is reasonable for us to say that we can do
more, if global support was available in the form of financial
and technological resources," Saran said.
Bureau Report