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Minister of Environment and Forests Thiru. A. Raja has sought to reassure the international community that in the coming decades, India’s per capita emissions of green house gases (GHGs) will remain well below the global average, while stressing that emission of green house gases is bound to increase in India and other developing countries, as "we gear up to meet the challenges of poverty alleviation and improving basic living standards of our people".
Addressing the 10th Conference of Parties (COP-10) of the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) at Buenos Aires, yesterday, the Minister said that the international community has to understand that economic and social development is the first and overriding priority for us.
Thiru Raja observed that the implementation of the Convention thus far has been "rather disappointing" particularly in not meeting the overall emission reduction targets by Annex I Parties and just as importantly, in largely unfulfilled commitments related to providing financial resources and transfer of technology to non-Annex I countries.
The industrialized countries listed in the annex I to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change sought to return their greenhouse-gas emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2000. They have also accepted emissions targets for the period 2008-12 as per the Kyoto Protocol. They include the 24 original OECD members, the European Union, and 14 countries with economies in transition. (Croatia, Liechtenstein, Monaco, and Slovenia joined Annex 1 at COP-3, and the Czech Republic and Slovakia replaced Czechoslovakia.)
"The facts show that emissions from most Annex I Parties were higher in 2000 than they were at the beginning of the decade. If the aggregate figure was lower in 2000, it was not because of "individual or joint" implementation but because of a severe, temporary and unsought economic downturn in a few Annex I "economies in transition" Thiru Raja pointed out, and added that "this cannot be equated with "individual or joint" fulfillment of commitments under the Convention. Moreover, since 2000, the aggregated emissions of the Annex I Parties has resumed an upward trend. In respect of Parties which have GHG reduction targets under the Kyoto Protocol, there is little evidence to suggest that they are on track to meet their respective targets".
Stating that the immediate priority must be to put the Kyoto mechanisms fully into operation at the soonest possible, Thiru Raja emphasized the need for ensuring that inflows to the new funds are commensurate with their purposes, and predictable. The next step is the consideration of commitments of the Annex I Parties for the second commitment period. The Kyoto Protocol requires that this step should be initiated next year at COP-11, he said.
Observing that transfer of environmentally sound technologies to developing countries remains a major concern, the Minister suggested that technologies for addressing climate change concerns, both with respect to mitigation of GHGs and adaptation to the impacts of climate change, be placed in the limited public domain for use by developing countries.
"Placing the necessary GHGs abatement technologies in the limited public domain in developing countries, and ensuring that in financial terms they are competitive with the conventional technologies, may enable such investments to be less GHGs intensive", he added.
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