Climate talks hit turbulence as LDCs walk out, agree to return

The crucial climate talks were suspended for a while today, after India and other emerging nations walked out protesting that the rich countries were making attempts to shirk responsibility in tackling global warming.

The talks were resumed after the BASIC bloc, comprising Brazil, South Africa, India and China, succeeded in extracting an assurance from the chair that the conference would proceed in a "fully transparent" manner, without any "surprises".

"There was concern that the Kyoto Protocol track was not given the importance it deserves," Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said, referring to the pact that asks rich nations to make commitments to cut their carbon emissions beyond 2012.

The talks, which resumed after a weekend break, hit turbulence with the African countries, supported by the G77 and BASIC bloc, walking out, angered that the conference was weakening in support for the Kyoto Protocol.

The ministers participating in the talks met the President of the 15th Conference of Parties Connie Hedegaard and told her they needed an assurance that urgent attention would be given to the Kyoto Protocol, especially to clear emission cut targets for the second commitment period.

"The issue has been resolved," Ramesh told PTI, emerging out of a 45-minute meeting the ministers had with Hedegaard.

The chairs G77 and China, who were also present at the meeting with Hedegaard, expressed concern that the developed countries were "plotting" to undermine the Kyoto Protocol.

"What we had was a situation where issues pertaining to Kyoto Protocol were not on the table and that led the Africa group to make a decision to meet the president and declare that we would not participate in any negotiations until the issues of Kyoto Protocol were discussed," Lumumba Stanislaus Di-Aping, Sudan's envoy and co-chair of the G-77, told reporters.