India asks G-77 to stay united over climate change talks
By IANSWednesday, February 3, 2010
UNITED NATIONS - India has asked the Group of 77 developing countries to stay united to see that climate change negotiations address “the glaring injustice that those worst affected by climate change are the least responsible for it”.
“The G-77 must remain united as we strive to redress this injustice,” India’ s Permanent Representative to the UN, Hardeep Singh Puri, said Wednesday at a meeting here of the group on brainstorming on climate change issues.
“This injustice is acute to countries of Africa, to the LDCs (Least Developed Countries), and to the SIDS (Small Island Developing States) whose very survival as viable nation states is in jeopardy,” he said.
Like many other developing countries, India was among the worst affected by climate change, Puri said. “India, therefore, has a major interest in ensuring that climate change is addressed substantively and constructively.”
India was voluntarily and proactively undertaking numerous measures to address climate change, he said.
“However, there cannot be any renegotiation or dilution of the principles and provisions of the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change), in particular the principle of equity and common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities.”
“Efforts to address climate change must be firmly embedded in a demonstrably equitable access to atmospheric space for every citizen of the globe, with adequate finance and technology available to all developing countries,” Puri said.
“It is imperative that the G-77 remains united in pursuing these common objectives,” he said, stressing “solidarity that has been the bedrock of this diverse Group must be maintained and strengthened”.
While acknowledging the Copenhagen Accord “was a high-level political understanding among the participants on some of the contentious issues”, Brazil, South Africa, India and China, or the BASIC countries, also hoped that it would facilitate the two-track negotiating process under the Bali Roadmap, Puri said.
