New Delhi: India emerged a clear winner after two weeks of tough negotiations in Bali.
As per the accord, India will no longer have to worry about being forced to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
The Indian delegation, led by science and technology minister, Kapil Sibal successfully dodged an attempt by rich countries to put binding targets on developing nations to cut emissions.
India can also look forward to getting clean technologies from the West at subsidised rates. The agreement also ensures that rich countries will fund developing countries' efforts to deal with droughts and floods.
But it’s not entirely a rosy picture for India will now be answerable to the international community for what it does at home to combat climate change.
Nobel Laureate and IPCC chairperson R K Pachauri says that it is a positive deal and that India needs to take steps towards building a low carbon economy. “The US would not have agreed to quantified targets and the delegation must have had a clear brief on that. However, even on the domestic front we need to do a lot of homework. We need to be more energy efficient,” adds Pachauri.
Also, there will be no funding from developed countries for the upkeep of India's forests.
“It was a hard-fought win, but we have secured India's position in the two-year negotiations that delegates have agreed to at Bali and which will be completed by 2009,” said an elated Kapil Sibal.
However, environmental experts such as Sunita Narain do not think so.
“I think it's a no-deal right now. All Bali has agreed to is that we will negotiate what will be the nature of commitments that will take place after Kyoto.
What has happened in Bali is not a weakening and not a strengthening, because the United States managed to get its way and not have clear targets mentioned in the document, which will now guide the deal for future countries,” she said.
“India and other developing countries are quite rightly not going to allow mandatory commitments for the simple reason that we still need space to grow, Narain explained. “But,” she added, “it’s also important for India to put pressure as India has not done. India has let us down.”
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