New Delhi: India today said it has decided to
formally back the Climate Change Accord hammered out in
Copenhagen last year joining over 100 countries that have
already "associated" with the pact.
Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh in a suo-motu
statement in the Lok Sabha said India has agreed to being
listed in the preamble of the Accord subject to certain
conditions. India was the last major emitter yet to formally
endorse the agreement.
"Listing in Chapeau (preamble) of the Accord implies that
we participated in the negotiations on the Copenhagen Accord
and that we stand by the Accord," he said. India has conveyed
three conditions for its name being listed in the preamble.
India has made it clear that the Accord is a political
document and not a legally binding one; the Accord is not a
separate track of negotiations outside the UNFCCC and the
purpose of the Accord was to bring consensus in the existing
and ongoing two-track process under the UNFCCC, Ramesh said.
"The Accord could have value if the areas of convergence
reflected in it are used to help the parties reach agreed
outcomes under the UN multilateral negotiations in the two
tracks," he said.
Ramesh said India had agreed to listing under the Chapeau
after "careful consideration" and believed that the decision
reflected the role it had played in giving shape to the
Copenhagen Accord.
Brazil, South Africa and China, other members of the
four-nation BASIC group, have already agreed to such a listing
and communicated their association to the UN Framework
Convention Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Ramesh said besides the BASIC countries, many other
countries from the G-77 and China group have also associated
themselves with the Accord.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, March 09, 2010, 20:36