India offers solution for success of Cancun talks

India has placed two offers in the run-up to the Cancun climate talks beginning November 27 with the hope to break the logjam between developed and developing countries, Union minister for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh has said.

It has proposed to establish an international network of technology providers (looking at both the adaptation and mitigation aspects of climate change impact) modelled on Consultative Group of the Institutes of Agricultural Research.

The second proposal is for setting up a mechanism to measure, report and verify emission reduction commitment through international consultation and analysis. Sceptics say it is like giving in to the US demand without getting any commitment in return.

Ramesh, though, said it doesn’t mean that India was giving in to US pressure or relaxing its position. But it would serve to break the logjam and take the talks forward to get Annex-I or developed countries to commit drastic emission reduction targets in keeping with the Kyoto protocol, which the US hasn’t ratified.

No one quite expects Cancun to yield any legally binding agreement amidst fractured geopolitical mandates and domestic constraints, experts say. It can at best pave the way for next year’s talks (conference of parties [CoP], 2011) in Durban, South Africa.
“The most realistic outcome is not an agreement, not even a framework,” Ramesh said at a South Asian journalists’ workshop on climate talks.

“The realistic outcome will be a set of decisions endorsed by the 193 countries that would provide a road map on each of the building blocks of the talks to eventually culminate into an agreement or a set of agreements at Durban next year,” he said.

In a nutshell, the Cancun talks would not yield any breakthrough. But the talks would not break, either.

Yet, CoP is likely to move on a few important issues: Endorsement of REDD and REDD+ (reduction of emissions through deforestation and forest degradation), setting up a green fund and evolving its disbursement process and adaptation strategies for least developed countries.

In Copenhagen last year, the talks received a setback with the US and other developed countries reneging on their commitment on reducing emissions. What was agreed though was developed countries would put in $30 billion as a fast-track fund. But that has remained a virtual non-starter.

Meanwhile, India looks to engage and interact closely with its South Asian neighbours on climate science, technology transfer and mitigation and adaptation strategies.