India and other South Asian nations on Tuesday made it clear that climate change negotiations in Copenhagen should adhere to the Kyoto Protocol that imposes emission cuts on developed countries. Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh told reporters after the eighth meeting of SAARC Environment Ministers that the SAARC members would also adhere to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Bali Action Plan. "The SAARC speaks in one voice that we should not move away from UNFCCC,Kyoto Protocol and the Bali Action Plan on climate change," he said. Ramesh,however,refused to take any questions on his letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in which he had reportedly suggested junking Kyoto Protocol and getting out of the G-77 on climate change issues. But,on Monday he clarified that there was no change in India's stand on climate change. In the run up to the climate change talks in Copenhagen in December,developed nations are stepping up pressure on emerging economies like India,China and Brazil to take up legally binding greenhouse gas emission cuts,a move stoutly opposed by them. India also decided to extend a grant of one million dollars for strengthening the SAARC Forestry Centre in Thimphu and an additional one million dollars for the coastal zone management centre in the Maldives. Ramesh said the regional environment treaty and the natural disaster rapid response mechanism are expected to be finalised and adopted at the SAARC Summit in Thimphu in April next year. Recognising that the South Asia was amongst the regions most vulnerable to climate change as around 21 per cent of the world's population lives here,the ministers stressed sustainable development and adaptation to it remained the appropriate way to address the threat. "The ministers also underlined the need for afforestation and emphasised that the REDD Plus proposal (seeking fund for retaining forests) before the UNFCCC was an appropriate basis for such an agreement at Copenhagen," Ramesh added.
