India on Tuesday said it has decided to formally
back the Climate Change Accord hammered out in Copenhagen last year
joining over 100 countries that have already "associated" with the
pact.
Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh in a suo-motu statement in the Lok
Sabha said India has agreed to being listed in the preamble of the
Accord subject to certain conditions. India was the last major emitter
yet to formally endorse the agreement.
"Listing in Chapeau (preamble) of the Accord implies that we
participated in the negotiations on the Copenhagen Accord and that we
stand by the Accord," he said. India has conveyed three conditions for
its name being listed in the preamble.
India has made it clear that the Accord is a political document and
not a legally binding one; the Accord is not a separate track of
negotiations outside the UNFCCC and the purpose of the Accord was to
bring consensus in the existing and ongoing two-track process under
the UNFCCC, Ramesh said.
"The Accord could have value if the areas of convergence reflected in
it are used to help the parties reach agreed outcomes under the UN
multilateral negotiations in the two tracks," he said.
Ramesh said India had agreed to listing under the Chapeau after
"careful consideration" and believed that the decision reflected the
role it had played in giving shape to the Copenhagen Accord.
Brazil, South Africa and China, other members of the four-nation BASIC
group, have already agreed to such a listing and communicated their
association to the UN Framework Convention Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Ramesh said besides the BASIC countries, many other countries from the
G-77 and China group have also associated themselves with the Accord.
