New Delhi, Oct 29: The ongoing negotiations on Delhi Declaration on Climate Change (DDCC) today made some headway with the G-77 and China submitting their proposals, EU welcoming the progress made and host India stating that a revised draft of DDCC will be circulated shortly. The G-77 and China feel that DDCC should incorporate a call "to urge ratification of the Kyoto protocol (KP) by all parties that have not done so" and inclusion of Africa as the region most suffering from effects of climate change.
This addresses a major demand of the EU which is the most vociferous votary of the KP and wants it to be ratified by all particularly the US and Russia. The EU stance on the G-77 move was apparent when its spokesperson Thomas Becker said, "things are now going better, we are convinced that the conference will find a good result and optimistic about what will be there in final decisions to be taken forward to the next conference".
Welcoming the EU`s stand, India`s environment secretary P V Jaikrishnan said "despite some differences among member countries we are confident that there will be convergence of views when revised proposals for the DDCC are circulated".
Refuting criticism that the draft DDCC circulated by conference president T R Baalu had completely overlooked KP, he said the document mentioned the Berlin mandate which includes the objectives of the KP. "The revised proposals being worked out in consultation with various umbrella groups like G-77 and EU will incorporate concerns of member states", he added. Bureau Report