By Ranjit Devraj
NEW DELHI, Oct 30 2002 (IPS)

India, host to an ongoing U.N. conference on climate change, set the tone Wednesday for the final stretch of negotiations by saying that developing countries should not be expected to cut emissions when they needed to take care of their impoverished, hungry people first.

Speaking at the High Level Segment of the Eighth Conference of the Parties (COP-8) to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee argued that in the first place, developing countries produced only a fraction of the greenhouse gases that cause global warming.

”Our per capita greenhouse gas emissions are only a fraction of the world average and in order of magnitude below that of many developed countries. This situation will not change for decades to come,” Vajpayee reminded an audience of ministers and negotiators from 185 countries on Wednesday, two days before the 10-day U.N. conference ends.

”We do not believe that the ethos of democracy can support any norm other than equal per capita rights to global environmental resources,” he said

India and other developing countries have been demanding ‘adaptation’ measures to tackle the problem along with technology and funding, rather than make commitments on ‘mitigation’ as the North would like to see them do.

”Developing countries do not have adequate resources to meet their human needs,” Vajpayee said as negotiators continued to discuss a draft Delhi Declaration that the conference will issue Friday.

A campaigner for Greenpeace International, Athena Ronquillo-Ballesteros, said Vajpayee reflected the sentiments expressed at the conference by the Group of 77 bloc of countries and China – that developing countries should be not be told to reduce emissions especially when the developed countries have continued to increase them.

In a joint proposal for the Delhi Declaration, China and the G-77 urged ”ratification of the Kyoto Protocol by all parties that have not yet done so”.

Ballesteros said COP-8 was really about developing a process to explore ways to agree on a global, equitable regime with shared responsibilities by every country.

Steen Gade, director general of the Danish Environment Protection Agency and political head of the European Union delegation, said in reaction to Vajpayee’s speech that what was really important was that developing countries begin discussing mitigating measures before 2005 as agreed under the Kyoto Protocol.

Gade said the EU had no problem with countries demanding that the Kyoto Protocol should first be allowed to come into force probably next year – before starting discussions on mitigating measures. But the fact was that scientific evidence shows that time is running out, Gade added.

”We are obliged to discuss this (mitigating measures) before 2005 and things take a long time in the U.N. framework,” Gade said.

Vajpayee also said there was no getting away from the link between global warming and sustainable development, which has emerged as a debate after some activists said that developing nations had problems more urgent that climate change.

This has been another thorny issue with the EU, which lays emphasis on an approach that treats climate and sustainable development needs separately.

India has said it would be working for a North-South consensus, and another between developed countries which support the Kyoto Protocol and those who oppose it like the United States..

However, it made a false start by letting through a first draft for the Delhi Declaration on Monday that does not mention the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which binds industrialised countries to cutting back on greenhouse gas emissions.

In his address Wednesday, Vajpayee pointed out that India itself had acceded to the Kyoto protocol two months ago, but conspicuously refrained from urging other countries to ratify it the way the G-77 and China have been vehemently doing at the conference here.

The fact that the United States welcomed the Monday draft threw up suspicions that India, whose ultra right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government has been cosying up to Washington on various international issues, had been pressured into dropping mention of the Kyoto Protocol.

Although India’s Environment Minister T R Baalu said the draft’s wording was open for modifications, the fact is that the Kyoto Protocol has been the subject of much international acrimony ever since the United States declared last year that it would not ratify it.

The EU, which has since been the main propelling force for the multilateral agreement has, in spite of stiff opposition to the Kyoto Protocol from the U.S. and wealthy oil-exporting countries like Saudi Arabia, been working to see that enough countries ratify it so that it becomes an internationally binding law.

Under the protocol, developed countries have to reduce generation of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide by 5.2 percent below 1990 levels by 2012. Until that year, developing countries are spared from having to restrict their emissions, since the bulk of greenhouse gases is produced by industrialised nations.

India’s views that developed nations must bear most of the responsibility for climate change was also reflected in the draft declaration so far.

The declaratin’s first draft says, ”Policies and measures to protect the climate system against human-induced change should be appropriate for the specific conditions of each party and should be integrated with national development programmes, taking into account that economic development is essential for adopting measures to address climate change.”

Such flexibility has prompted the EU to call the draft ”too weak”. EU negotiators have said that they would press for a tougher Delhi Declaration and one that would incorporate commitments to reduce global warming beyond 2012 by all parties, whether developing or developed countries.

On Wednesday, influential countries like Japan stepped in to help build a consensus.

Japan has not ratified the Kyoto Protocol, but its Environment Minister Shunichi Suzuki has pledged to make a ” concrete beginning towards mitigation of climate change,” according to Indian officials.

Suzuki wanted the Delhi Declaration to reflect a balance between mitigation and adaptation and urged that developing countries accept some responsibility for controlling climate change.

Excerpt:

By Ranjit Devraj
NEW DELHI, Oct 30 2002 (IPS)

India, host to an ongoing U.N. conference on climate change, set the tone Wednesday for the final stretch of negotiations by saying that developing countries should not be expected to cut emissions when they needed to take care of their impoverished, hungry people first.

Speaking at the High Level Segment of the Eighth Conference of the Parties (COP-8) to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee argued that in the first place, developing countries produced only a fraction of the greenhouse gases that cause global warming.

“Our per capita greenhouse gas emissions are only a fraction of the world average and in order of magnitude below that of many developed countries. This situation will not change for decades to come,” Vajpayee reminded an audience of ministers and negotiators from 185 countries on Wednesday, two days before the 10-day U.N. conference ends.

“We do not believe that the ethos of democracy can support any norm other than equal per capita rights to global environmental resources,” he said

India and other developing countries have been demanding ‘adaptation’ measures to tackle the problem along with technology and funding, rather than make commitments on ‘mitigation’ as the North would like to see them do.

“Developing countries do not have adequate resources to meet their human needs,” Vajpayee said as negotiators continued to discuss a draft Delhi Declaration that the conference will issue Friday.

A campaigner for Greenpeace International, Athena Ronquillo-Ballesteros, said Vajpayee reflected the sentiments expressed at the conference by the Group of 77 bloc of countries and China — that developing countries should be not be told to reduce emissions especially when the developed countries have continued to increase them.

In a joint proposal for the Delhi Declaration, China and the G-77 urged “ratification of the Kyoto Protocol by all parties that have not yet done so”.

Ballesteros said COP-8 was really about developing a process to explore ways to agree on a global, equitable regime with shared responsibilities by every country.

Steen Gade, director general of the Danish Environment Protection Agency and political head of the European Union delegation, said in reaction to Vajpayee’s speech that what was really important was that developing countries begin discussing mitigating measures before 2005 as agreed under the Kyoto Protocol.

Gade said the EU had no problem with countries demanding that the Kyoto Protocol should first be allowed to come into force probably next year — before starting discussions on mitigating measures. But the fact was that scientific evidence shows that time is running out, Gade added.

“We are obliged to discuss this (mitigating measures) before 2005 and things take a long time in the U.N. framework,” Gade said.

Vajpayee also said there was no getting away from the link between global warming and sustainable development, which has emerged as a debate after some activists said that developing nations had problems more urgent that climate change.

This has been another thorny issue with the EU, which lays emphasis on an approach that treats climate and sustainable development needs separately.

India has said it would be working for a North-South consensus, and another between developed countries which support the Kyoto Protocol and those who oppose it like the United States..

However, it made a false start by letting through a first draft for the Delhi Declaration on Monday that does not mention the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which binds industrialised countries to cutting back on greenhouse gas emissions.

In his address Wednesday, Vajpayee pointed out that India itself had acceded to the Kyoto protocol two months ago, but conspicuously refrained from urging other countries to ratify it the way the G-77 and China have been vehemently doing at the conference here.

The fact that the United States welcomed the Monday draft threw up suspicions that India, whose ultra right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government has been cosying up to Washington on various international issues, had been pressured into dropping mention of the Kyoto Protocol.

Although India’s Environment Minister T R Baalu said the draft’s wording was open for modifications, the fact is that the Kyoto Protocol has been the subject of much international acrimony ever since the United States declared last year that it would not ratify it.

The EU, which has since been the main propelling force for the multilateral agreement has, in spite of stiff opposition to the Kyoto Protocol from the U.S. and wealthy oil-exporting countries like Saudi Arabia, been working to see that enough countries ratify it so that it becomes an internationally binding law.

Under the protocol, developed countries have to reduce generation of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide by 5.2 percent below 1990 levels by 2012. Until that year, developing countries are spared from having to restrict their emissions, since the bulk of greenhouse gases is produced by industrialised nations.

India’s views that developed nations must bear most of the responsibility for climate change was also reflected in the draft declaration so far.

The declaratin’s first draft says, “Policies and measures to protect the climate system against human-induced change should be appropriate for the specific conditions of each party and should be integrated with national development programmes, taking into account that economic development is essential for adopting measures to address climate change.”

Such flexibility has prompted the EU to call the draft “too weak”. EU negotiators have said that they would press for a tougher Delhi Declaration and one that would incorporate commitments to reduce global warming beyond 2012 by all parties, whether developing or developed countries.

On Wednesday, influential countries like Japan stepped in to help build a consensus.

Japan has not ratified the Kyoto Protocol, but its Environment Minister Shunichi Suzuki has pledged to make a ” concrete beginning towards mitigation of climate change,” according to Indian officials.

Suzuki wanted the Delhi Declaration to reflect a balance between mitigation and adaptation and urged that developing countries accept some responsibility for controlling climate change.

Excerpt: