Copenhagen accord has inbuilt hazards: Ramesh

The Copenhagen accord on climate change was a partial success for India but it has certain "inbuilt hazards" of which the developing countries have to be wary, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said here.

"The accord has certain inbuilt hazards and the developing world, especially India, has to be wary on those accounts. The foremost risk is that the developed world could demand an end to the Kyoto Protocol (based on the principle of equity)," Ramesh, who was here yesterday to review the progress of the Ganga river cleanliness programme, told reporters.

He, however, rejected the Opposition's claim that the Copenhagen summit was a failure.

"It is a partial victory for BASIC Group comprising Brazil, China, India and South Africa when it wrested three important benefits from US President Barack Obama at Copenhagen," he said referring to the two-week negotiations at the Danish capital.

The US gave in to our proposals on global goals and the legally non-binding nature of the accord, he said referring to India's position of not accepting any binding cuts on emissions.

On monitoring and verification and, in particular, on the US proposal of analysis/ assessment, Ramesh said, "We agreed for consultations and analysis which would respect national sovereignty".

He said India bargained at the summit from the point of strength and "we did not enter into any binding agreement."

"We had a Laxman Rekha (red lines) for us for the negotiations and we did not cross it rather we created a space within that Laxman Rekha for collective bargaining with the US and others with support from BASIC countries," Ramesh said.

The accord hammered out by the US, China, India, Brazil and South Africa after hectic talks on December 16 recognises the scientific case for keeping the rise in global emperatures to 2 degree celsius but imposes no binding obligations on emission cuts on any of the signatories.

When questioned about the prospects of the accord, he said, "How the accord will work, I can't say now because negotiations will continue on the multilateral process" at Mexico in 2010 when the countries meet to negotiate a legally binding climate treaty.

Ramesh further said, "This is an accord about 30 countries took note of and we hope more will become signatories. What the accord does is to provide a starting-point." 

He, however, made it clear that the "accord is not a recipe for saving humanity; nor is it a mantra. My objective in Copenhagen was to preserve India's right to development.

"For me, I had only one objective, to preserve for India the right to economic development. I was not in a position to accept any agreement that imposes restrictions on our developmental agenda," he said, adding, "We are nationally accountable to our Parliament and not to some international organisation".

Rejecting the BJP's criticism that the accord was a national surrender, he said, "I have been saying let us not link our action to international finance and technology. We are in a position to do things on our own."