PM for fair and equitable global climate change framework

New Delhi, July 1 (PTI) - Ahead of the G-8 Summit that
will discuss the challenge posed by climate change, Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh Monday made it clear that a "fair and
equitable" treatment of developing countries is essential.

Singh, who is scheduled to leave for the G-8 Summit in
Japan on July seven, said India was ready to play its part in
efforts to address climate change.

Developing countries want the industrialised nations
to share the burden of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The
developed world insist that the developing countries need to
take greater steps to cut down on CO2 emissions.

"Climate change is a global challenge. It can only be
successfully overcome through a global collaborative and
cooperative effort. India is prepared to play its role as a
responsible member of the international community and make its
own contribution.

"We are already doing so in the multi-lateral
negotiations taking place under the UN Framework Convention on
Climate Change. The outcome that we are looking for must be
effective. It must be fair and equitable," he said while
launching the National Action Plan on Climate Change prepared
by his advisory council on the issue.

He said every citizen of this plant must have an equal
share of the planetary atmospheric space. Long-term
convergence of per capita emissions is, therefore, the only
equitable basis for a global compact on climate change.

The Prime Minister, who is likely to meet US President
George W. Bush and other world leaders, recalled that he has
already declared that despite developmental imperatives,
India's per capita GHG emissions would not exceed the per
capita GHG emissions of the developed industrialised
countries.

"This should be testimony enough, if one was needed,
of the sincerity of purpose and sense of responsibility we
bring to the global task on hand," he said.