'Lima Did Not Safeguard Interests Of Less Developed Nations Like India'


NEW DELHI: And the fissure nothing but deepened yet again! This is how experts would like to sum up the outcome of the 2014 Lima climate change talks where the developed and the developing countries supposedly sat across the table to strengthen the global partnership in combating climate change - that instead resulted in its dilution.

Those who kept a close watch on the 20th Conference of Parties (COP-20 Lima) that concluded in the Peruvian capital last week said its outcome further eroded the difference between the rich and poor countries like India.

Why? Because the key principles guiding global treaties on climate change were weakened to favour the wealthy, the experts said.

In contrast to India's official stand that the outcome was "satisfactory", Delhi University professor and environment consultant Shreekant Gupta told IANS: "Lima was a gathering like all those before that only served to underscore the deep fissures between the rich and poor nations."

The two now stand on a common footing with respect to their contributions to rollback greenhouse gas emissions, giving a free run to developed countries to steer clear of their "historical responsibility" to clean the mess caused by them as early industrialisers.

 "The fact this problem has largely been caused by the rich industrial nations is indisputable. Until the onset of the industrial revolution in the 1800s, the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere remained steady at 280 parts per million (ppm). But from then on, it shot up and currently exceeds 400 ppm, a level unprecedented," added Gupta, who has also served on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

The real bone of contention, the experts said, is the dilution of common but differentiated responsibility (CBDR).

The story began in 1992 when the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was formulated to guide global treaties in controlling climate change. It operated within the framework of two key principles - equity and CBDR - that demarcate the difference between wealthy and dispossessed countries, requiring the former to take the lead in addressing climate change in accordance with its level of development and its historical contribution to the problem.

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Source: IANS