By NNN-PTI,
New Delhi : Ahead of the G-8 Summit that will discuss the challenge posed by climate change, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today made it clear that a “fair and equitable” treatment of developing countries is essential.
Singh, who is scheduled to leave for the G-8 Summit in Japan on July seven, said India was ready to play its part in efforts to address climate change.
Developing countries want the industrialized nations to share the burden of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The developed world insist that the developing countries need to take greater steps to cut down on CO2 emissions.
“Climate change is a global challenge. It can only be succesfully overcome through a global collaborative and cooperative effort. India is prepared to play its role as a responsible member of the international community and make its own contribution.
“We are already doing so in the multi-lateral negotiations taking place under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The outcome that we are looking for must be effective. It must be fair and equitable,” he said while launching the National Action Plan on Climate Change prepared by his advisory council on the issue.
He said every citizen of this plant must have an equal share of the planetory atmospheric space. Long-term convergence of per capita emissions is, therefore, the only equitable basis for a global compact on climate change.
The Prime Minister, who is likely to meet US President George W Bush and other world leaders, recalled that he has already declared that despite developmental imperatives, India’s per capita GHG emissions would not exceed the per capita GHG emissions of the developed industrialised countries.
“This should be testimony enough, if one was needed, of the sincerity of purpose and sense of responsibility we bring to the global task on hand,” he said.