CANCUN (AMN): Indian on Saturday hailed the UN climate conference decision to set up a 100 billion Dollar Green Fund to fight global warming. It termed the decision as ‘important step forward’. The fund is intended to raise and disburse by 2020, a hundred billion dollars a year, to assist poorer nations with low carbon development and protective measures against the effects of global warming. However there was no agreement on extending the landmark Kyoto Protocol on emissions cuts beyond 2012.
Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said that major emerging economies — Brazil, South Africa, India and China – have welcomed the decision. He said, they are very happy with the text and Cancun represents an important step forward. He said that many of India’s contributions had been incorporated in the text. The Minister pointed out that under the current texts, developed countries are subject to stricter scrutiny on their mitigation cuts than developing countries. He also highlighted that no peaking year for carbon emissions was mentioned in the draft nor a global emission reduction goal set for 2050.
According to AIR the progress came despite objections from Bolivia which said, commitments on reducing carbon emissions were weak enough to allow global temperature to rise by up to five degrees Celsius. Minutes after a set of decisions was adopted at the end of the two-week conference of Ministers from nearly 200 countries, host Mexican President Felipe Calderon said that confidence is back and hope has returned. The decisions reached in this conference, will be followed up in negotiations next year. It is hoped that a legally binding treaty emerges at the next climate meet in Durban, South Africa. Many of the contentious issues had been by-passed to reach compromises in Cancun. For instance, no number had been given for further emission reductions under the Kyoto Protocol and there was no commitment to continue the Kyoto Protocol after it expires in 2012.
