ENVIRONMENT MINISTER LEAVES FOR
MILAN TO TAKE PART IN CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE
The Minister for
Environment and Forests, Shri T.R.Baalu left New Delhi for Italy
this morning to take part in the high level segment of the Conference
of Parties (COP-9) the UN Framework Convention for Climate Change
now taking place at Milan. The COP-9 meeting has assumed significance
in view of the reported decision of Russia not to ratify the Kyoto
Protocol on Climate Change. The Kyoto Protocol has long been teetering
on the brink ever since the United States withdrew its support
and campaign against its supposed weaknesses. Taking 1990 as the
base year for calculation, the United States has 36 per cent and
Russia 17 per cent of Green House Gas (GHG) emissions in the developed
world.
The global community
is addressing the challenge of climate change through a multilateral
and cooperative approach. The Government of India demonstrated
its commitment to address climate change by acceding to the Kyoto
Protocol in August last year. India also successfully hosted the
8th Conference of Parties (COP-8) in New Delhi from
October 23 to November 1, 2002. The Delhi Ministerial declaration
adapted at COP-8 provided a new direction to climate change issues
and firmly placed climate change in the context of sustainable
development. The conference also succeeded in the operationalisation
of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and brought technology
transfer and adaptation into focus. Last month New Delhi hosted
a Climate Technology Bazaar and related conferences in which about
100 exhibitors from 12 countries showcased state of the art climate
friendly technologies. 20 CDM projects with FDI worth 325 million
dollars fructified. The Union Cabinet recently approved the setting
up of a CDM Authority in the country and the notification to this
effect will be issued shortly.
At the Milan
Conference, Shri Baalu is expected to position India as a leading
developing country with the capacity to sale environment friendly
technology to other third world countries.
