DURBAN, South Africa, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- India is open to ideas put forth at U.N. climate talks in South Africa but still needs reassurance from the developed world on emissions cuts, the country's climate negotiator said.
I have come to Durban with an open mind," said Indian Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan at the United-Nations-sponsored climate change conference in South Africa, in reference to the demands for a new legally binding treaty by the European Union, Japan and other countries.
"But I would like to know whether it would be binding only for mitigation and whether it will be same for Annex-1 (developed) and non-Annex 1 (developing) countries," she said, Press Trust of India reports.
The Guardian newspaper reported that Natarajan on Monday ruled out signing an EU proposal for a new single, legally binding agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol, the first commitment period of which expires in 2012. The treaty stipulates that all industrialized nations, with the exception of the United States, are legally bound to reduce emissions five percent from 1990 levels.
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The EU is willing to sign to a second commitment period if developing economies would agree to take binding carbon emissions cuts in the future.
"Could we reassure each other against unilateral actions in such a treaty? How will the ratification process of Kyoto Protocol be resolved and most importantly we at this time of our development we need to keep the imperatives of developing country in mind and the need to grow," Natarajan said.
Responding to accusations that India was dealing a blow to the negotiations, she said, "I don't perceive this as a correct perspective," while maintaining that India's "development imperative is important."
Her comments come amid still-unresolved divisions between developed and developing nations on a climate treaty.
India, the world's third largest emitter of greenhouse gases, has urged that climate negotiators revisit India's three-point agenda, which covers equitable sharing of atmospheric carbon space, technology sharing and intellectual property rights and unilateral trade barriers.
The Times of India newspaper reported Wednesday that key countries agreed that the issue of equity should be included in the agenda for all future talks, while agreements on the other two issues weren't settled.
Some 194 countries are represented at the conference, with more than 15,000 participants including journalists, the United Nations said. The high-level segment of the climate change talks, involving government negotiators and ministers, began concludes Friday.
