Thaindian News

New Delhi, Sep 24 (IANS) Ahead of the UN conference on climate change in Copenhagen this December, Vice President Hamid Ansari Thursday said any action on global warming “must enlarge the possibilities for development of the world’s poor”. He stressed the importance of equity in the ongoing international debate over how to combat climate change.
“The issue of development should continue to remain the focus of the global discourse. Any action on climate change must enlarge, not constrict, the possibilities for development and empowerment of the world’s poor,” Ansari said here at an international conference on climate change.

“The human aspiration for leading a life of dignity must not be the outcome of the dice of geography,” Ansari said.

The two-day conference called Global Summit on Sustainable Development and Climate Change was organised by the Observer Research Foundation, an Indian public policy think tank and Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, a German think tank.

Outlining India’s position on the ongoing climate change negotiations, Ansari said the question of equity and burden sharing is central to the climate change debate.

“Lack of a global agreement on such an equitable formula is likely to spill over to other multilateral, regional and bilateral negotiating platforms,” Ansari stressed.

“This would further accentuate existing divisions such as North-South, East-West and Developed-Developing countries,” he said.

Ansari also emphasised that the pursuit of equity at the international level needs to be reflected at the national level, and cited per capita emission of Madhya Pradesh which is over 16 times that of Assam.

The vice president also called for broadening the climate change debate which has so far been “primarily government-focussed” to include legislatures, peoples’ groups and grassroots movements.

“The debate must be as inclusive as possible to enhance its legitimacy and credibility,” he said.

Referring to India’s position on responsibilities of developed countries, which have historically been the biggest emitters of greenhouse gas, Ansari cited a spate of revealing statistics to argue that India’s per capita greenhouse gas emission of 1.1 tonne per annum is miniscule compared to over 20 tonnes for the US and over 10 tonnes for most European countries.

“India, despite having 17 percent of the world population and a rapidly growing economy, has only four percent of global greenhouse gas emissions as compared to US and China that account for over 16 percent each of global greenhouse gas emissions,” he said.

Underlining the complexity of the climate change debate, Ansari, a former diplomat, said that for developing countries like India, climate change imposes new challenges that may probably require negotiating new international and national political and economic arrangements.

The solutions could include fashioning new technological interventions, and negotiating financial and technological transfers for mitigation and adaption to climate change, he said.

Participating in a roundtable conference on climate change at the UN Tuesday, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna had also stressed on equity.