Faced with brickbats and denied support by the Congress, Union minister of state for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh issued a retraction on Tuesday of his suggestion to dilute India’s stand on climate change negotiations to accommodate the US, junk Kyoto Protocol and get out of G-77 grouping of developing nations.
The idea was also dumped resoundingly at the meeting of ministers of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) member nations on climate change. India and other South Asian nations decided on Tuesday to stick to the course laid down in Kyoto Protocol, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Bali Action Plan during the climate change negotiations in Copenhagen.
Though the sense of unease was palpable among ministers of Saarc nations, Ramesh issued a statement asserting his faith in the stated position adopted by India. After the Saarc meeting itself, Ramesh said, “The Saarc speaks in one voice that we should not move away from the UNFCCC, Kyoto Protocol and Bali Action Plan on climate change.”
Saarc nations agreed to increase cooperation on climate-related matters and also issue a joint statement “for Saarc as an entity” on the sidelines of the UN summit on climate change in Copenhagen in December.
The Saarc environment ministers decided to set up weather monitoring stations, forestry centres and natural disaster management systems for the region. Ramesh said six key decisions were taken by the Saarc ministers to tackle global warming, which included holding of an annual workshop to review climate change actions by each of the eight member nations. A regional environment treaty would be finalised for adoption at the next Saarc summit in Thimpu, Bhutan, in April 2010, Ramesh said.
