Developing nations must send best minds to negotiate 'hard' on climate change: CSE

The 2015 Paris Climate Conference is scheduled to take place from November 30 to December 11.

New Delhi: An environment think tank Thursday appealed to developing nations including India to negotiate "strongly" in the upcoming Paris climate change conference, and blamed developed countries for the present state of global warming.

The Centre for Science (CSE) also called for equity between developed and developing countries during the summit and asserted that countries of South Asia and Africa should send their best people to negotiate "hard" on climate change.

"As the world's nations prepare for climate change negotiations in Paris later his year, it is important for developing countries to negotiate strongly in Paris. Climate negotiations are considered by governments to be a soft issue while trade negotiations are given priority.

"It is critical that countries from South Asia and Africa send their best people and negotiate hard on climate change," CSE Director General Sunita Narain said while speaking to a group of journalists at its annual media briefing on climate change.

"This year too, the climate change negotiations are very important. The world is already looking at the prospect of not containing climate change within 2 degrees Celsius.

"Recently, the emission plans of 119 countries was put out by the United Nations Framework for Climate Change (UNFCCC). These emission reduction plans will not contain temperature rise below 2 degrees. There was a 25 per cent ambition gap until 2030," said Chandra Bhushan, CSE's Deputy Director General.

Speaking on carbon budget, Bhushan said that only 250 billion tonne of carbon budget will be left after 2030. "Much of Africa and India will not meet their development needs by 2030," he said.

Emphasising the importance of viewing cumulative emissions by countries rather than the current annual emissions, Narain said, "It is due to the emission by developed countries such as the US that the world has reached this state where it has to restrict emissions and global warming."

"They (the US and the EU) emitted in the past. We will emit in the present and future," she said, indicating the emission that India and Africa will make in order to meet the needs of their people.

Narain said that CSE's recent publication 'Capitan America - US Climate Goals: A reckoning' had received little attention from the northern (western) media.

"I would like the Southern media to become stronger, understand the politics around climate change so that there is equity and fairness in negotiations," she said.

She added that CSE would like to hold a workshop on climate change in Africa before the next CoP.

Opening day of the two-day briefing was addressed by national and international specialists including Roxy Mathhew Koll, scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune, Emmanuel OlukayodeOladipo, professor of climatology in Nigeria and others.

The 2015 Paris Climate Conference, scheduled to take place from November 30 to December 11 will, for the first time in over 20 years of UN negotiations, aim to achieve a legally binding and universal agreement on climate, with the aim of keeping global warming below 2°C.