Cancun was disappointing from environmental view: Ramesh
By IANSFriday, February 4, 2011
NEW DELHI - The climate change talks at Cancun last year were disappointing from the environmental point of view but were a political advancement, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said Friday.
Addressing the Delhi Sustainable Development Summit (DSDS) here, the minister said should also not expect much from the UN climate change talks in Durban scheduled later this year.
“One should be realistic and should not hope for what will not be able to accomplish at Durban, else we begin for another disappointment.”
“If you ask me from environmental point of view, Cancun was a disappointment but from the political point of view it was an advancement,” he said.
During the climate change talks at Cancun in Mexico last year, he said he backed Bolivia environmentally as the country was against the agreements at Cancun but was politically against it.
He listed four issues where no final decision would take place at Durban.
“I don’t see any agreement on second commitment period for Kyoto Protocol, legally binding agreement on emission cuts, controversy over 2 degrees Celsius versus 1.5 degrees Celsius global goal for temperature rise and peak year for emission cuts,” Ramesh said.
“I see a great difficulty seeing a concrete result at Durban. It doesn’t mean we stop working. Cancun provided us with a work plan and we should stop interpreting and implementing it,” he said.
“Cancun should be seen as a template of actionable point that will end at Durban,” he added.
