The UN climate change conference, which begins next week in Bonn under the shadow of the recent US pullout from the Paris pact, should be seen as an "opportunity" and "call for greater action", a green body said today.
The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) said countries, including India, must work towards preparing a "fair, strong, ambitious and effective" rule book of the Paris Agreement.
The 23rd meeting of the Conference of Parties (COP) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is scheduled to begin in Bonn from November 6.
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"Over the past 25 years, the US has been an obstruction to an ambitious climate deal. Today, we are in a state of climate crisis, with the world reeling from a series of climate change-induced extreme weather events," the Delhi-based body said.
"The US withdrawal should be taken as an opportunity and a call for greater and more ambitious action, and not a call for inaction," said Chandra Bhushan, deputy director general of CSE and head of its climate change programme.
The upcoming climate summit also marks the 25th year of the signing of UNFCCC.
"Bonn meeting is the first climate meeting post the United States pullout. Parties, including India, must work towards preparing a fair, strong, ambitious and effective rule book of the Paris Agreement," the CSE said.
The US had recently announced its decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement on climate change and renegotiate the deal that was agreed upon by over 190 countries.
"It is crucial to ensure that the US does not continue to keep the world hostage to its inaction. The rest of the world must come together to make sure the US does not obstruct or dilute the agreement any further," Bhushan said.
At Bonn, parties would negotiate the rules and guidelines for provisions under the Paris Agreement, namely transparency framework, New Market Mechanism, facilitative dialogue (FD) and global stocktake (GST).
Other key agenda includes finance which has always been a bone of contention between developed and developing countries. The rich nations are often accused of failing to fulfil their mandate of providing finance and technology to the developing world to address climate change.
The Green Climate Fund (GCF), constituted to support developing countries, needs to fulfil the mandate of USD 100 billion by 2020, CSE said.
At the end of the summit, parties must come up with a draft rule book to be finalised by 2018, as per the mandate, it said
According to a research published in 2016, CO2 concentration in the earth's atmosphere was 403 parts per million (ppm), the highest ever.
2016 was also the warmest year on record with the developing world been the worst hit.
Among the top 10 countries representing the global vulnerability index, nine were from the developing world, indicating their limited capability and capacity to withstand climate fury, CSE said.
This year, India had a below-normal monsoon, with central India facing severe droughts, it added.
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