Not expecting anything final at Durban conference: Ramesh

India is not expecting anything 'concrete' or a 'final pronouncement' at the climate conclave in Durban later this year on four key issues, including one
pertaining to emission cuts according to Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh.

The issues concerning India include a second committment period for the Kyoto Protocol, a legally binding agreement on emission cuts, the discussion over 2°C versus 1.5°C as a global goal for temperature rise and the matter of a peak year for emission cuts.
   
"One should understand it very clearly that we are not going to get a final pronouncement on these issues," Ramesh said. "They will still be on agenda. They will be discussed and as I said Durban will not have a final say. If we approach it from a sense of exaggeration we will be hit by another disappointment."
   
The Minister, who was addressing a session of Delhi Sustainable Development Summit 2011, also said it was time for everyone to stop interpreting Cancun's outcuomes and start implementing it.
   
"If you ask me from the environmental point of view, Cancun was a disappointment but from the political point of iew it was an advancement," Ramesh said, saying it came on the heels of "two huge accomplishments" at the Nagoya conference in October 2010.

"Cancun should be seen as a template of actionable points that will end at Durban," he said.