The BASIC group of countries, comprising India,
China, Brazil and South Africa, today announced its support to the
Copenhagen Accord to combat climate change while asserting that it was
a political document and not a legal agreement, which must feed into a
legally binding global accord negotiated by all countries.
After a seven-hour meeting here, environment
ministers of the four nations also “expressed their intention to
communicate information on their voluntary mitigation actions to the
UNFCCC (UN Framework Convention on Climate Change) by January 31.”
The intention, expressed in a joint communique
after the meeting, put at rest speculation about whether India and
China would support the accord that they along with the US, Brazil and
South Africa had negotiated at the last minute at the Copenhagen
Summit in December.
Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said: “We
support the Copenhagen Accord, but were unanimously of the view that
its value lies not as a standalone document but as an input into the
two-track negotiation process under the UNFCCC."
One track is on long-term cooperative action to
combat climate change and the other is for developed countries to
commit to what extent they will reduce their greenhouse gas emissions
after 2012 when the current commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol
runs out.
BASIC countries also asked the UNFCCC
secretariat to hold six meetings of negotiators this year so that the
process could culminate by the next climate summit in Mexico City in
December.
Asked if the Copenhagen Accord would become a
legally binding treaty later, Ramesh replied: “It has no hope of doing
so”.
Official sources said India's support to the
accord came after UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon clarified to Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh that the accord was a political statement of
intent that would have no legal force.
The Prime Minister had sought clarification in a
letter sent to the UN chief on Friday, a move that prompted the UNFCCC
to indefinitely defer its January 31 deadline for countries to
indicate their support to the accord.
But the BASIC group would stick to the deadline.
South Africa's Water Resources and Environment Minister Buyelwa
Sonjica said: “We feel obligated that we must commit what we ourselves
were part of. That's a leadership obligation, even if Yvo (de Boer,
the UNFCCC chief) has decided to extend the deadline.”
