Cancun: India to propose emissions monitoring with conditions

New Delhi, Nov 28 (PTI) Keen to act as a "bridge" between
developing and developed nations at the UN climate summit in
Cancun beginning Monday, India has offered two proposals on
the issues of monitoring of national emissions cuts and
sharing of green technologies with poorer countries.
"We need to be practical and cannot remain frozen and
should engage with all countries as part of our foreign
policy," Indian Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said
recently about India's position at the 14-day summit to be
attended by over 190 UN members.
"We are certainly prepared to engage in a system of
monitoring, review and verifications/international
consultation and analysis (MRV/ICA) of domestic climate
actions which respects national soverignity...and we have
suggested a set of operational guidelines on how this system
will function," he said.
While candidly admitting that he would be taken to task
by NGOs here for his MRV/ICA proposal, he nevertheless said
India need to make such a move that is primarily intended to
rope in the world's richest country, the US, which can play a
key role in providing technical and financial support to
developing countries to deal with climate change threats.
"I know MRV/ICA is a controversial issue. (But), The US
has made it clear that it would not negotiate other issues
such as on forestry and technology and adaptation unless we
take up MRV/ICA, (for) which we are ready with our set of
conditions. This would break the (expected) logjam and impasse
(at the Cancun meet)," he said.
The idea is to break the stalemate at the meet, Ramesh
said given the differences between rich and developing nations
on various issues, India is ready to act as a "bridge" to
reduce the gap between the two.
Moreover, he further said ICA is a global system for
monitoring efforts that developing countries make to counter
climate change by using domestic resources and it is part of
the Copenhagen Accord agreed to by developing countries like
India and China at the climate meet last year.
Opposing MRV/ICA, NGOs like Centre for Science and
Environment (CSE) feel that it would allow developed nations
to send inspectors, or ask for records, to check compliance.
"This will be cleverly couched in the terminology of
'international consultation', so that we still believe we are
not being asked to take on commitments. But in return they
(developed nations) are not even taking higher emission cuts,"
CSE head Sunita Narain said.
India will also propose establishing technology transfer
mechanism to set up an international network of centres
"focussing in the area of adaptation where IPR and licensing
issues are not contentious and controversial issues." (More)
PTI