Climate: India wants Kyoto, Bali working groups to be convened

NEW DELHI: The Manmohan Singh government, which defended the Copenhagen Accord in Parliament and rejected the Opposition’s charge that it would undermine the future of UNFCCC process in climate negotiations, is now veering round to same sentiments. It has asked the Danish government to ensure the centrality of the two track negotiating process. 

Environment minister Jairam Ramesh has written to his Danish counterpart Lykke Friis asking that a meeting of the two ad hoc working groups — one for the Kyoto Protocol and the other on the Bali Action Plan track — be convened “no later than March 2010.” Denmark is the current president of the Conference of Parties. 

Writing on behalf of the BASIC group, Mr Ramesh conveyed the support of the four countries to the Accord. The support was not unqualified. “However, we felt that the centrality of the UNFCCC process must be preserved.” For this purpose, India has asked that “in line with the discussions at COP-15, the two track negotiating process along AWG-KP and AWG-LCA must be urgently activated in the run up to the COP 16.” Expressing a sense of urgency, India has reminded Denmark that as COP president, it has “a major responsibility in discharging mandate.” 

The letter also asks the Danish presidency to notify all parties of a calendar of meeting of the two working group. While the first meeting should held no later than March, Mr Ramesh has suggested at least five meetings before COP 16 meeting, which is to be held in end November in Mexico. “The next meeting of parties has been scheduled in May-June 2010. We should utilise the time available till June more profitably for formal meetings. 

Concerns that the UNFCCC process could be undermined are not completely unfounded. The United States, which was key player in Copenhagen, would like the accord to run parallel to the UNFCCC process in the Major Economies Forum. The EU had suggested that the G-20 be the forum for future climate negotiations. A possible middle path has been suggested by German chancellor Angela Merkel. She has proposed that the future course of action be decided at the heads of state/government level. Therefore, suggesting a heads of state and government meeting in Bonn, which is to be held prior to the intersessional meet. 

Lead American negotiators, Todd Stern and Jonathan Pershing, have expressed concerns about the viability of negotiating a climate deal in a forum of 192 countries. An argument that is borne out by the fact that the accord was not adopted by the COP because of objections raised by four small developing countries. 

Washington is of the view that the objections will not go away in time for the summit in Mexico. Instead, it has suggested the Major Economies Forum as the platform. Mr Jonathan Pershing, who the deputy climate envoy, has suggested that the portions of the Copenhagen Accord were drawn from the MEF’s L’Aquila declaration in July, and that the Forum has made progress in arranging co-operation among its members to develop new low-carbon technologies.

Source: ET