KAMLA NAGAR, DELHI - 110007 ANIMATION | VFX tel. - CHANGE

DECEMBER 2011
Indian Proposal on Neglected Issues for Durban Discussions
The Indian Government has submitted a proposal to the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to include three contentious but very important issues
on ‘unilateral trade measures‘, ‘intellectual property rights‘ and ‘equitable access to sustainable
development‘ for inclusion in the provisional agenda of the 17th meeting of the Conference of
Parties (COP 17) to be held in Durban, South Africa in late November this year.
These issues have been neglected and not properly addressed in the 2010 Cancun decision on the
outcome of the Ad-hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention
(decision 1/CP 16) despite being raised by India and a large number of developing countries prior
to and in Cancun.
India requested that the 3 issues be included in the COP 17 provisional agenda and developing
countries in the Bonn talks that ended on 17 June objected to attempts to have these items
addressed by the Subsidiary Body on Implementation (SBI) that has no mandate to provide
guidance (thereby influencing) the COP agenda.
The Indian proposal is for the inclusion of these issues as follows: (i) under the agenda item
‘Development and transfer of technologies‘, a sub-item on ‘Mitigation and adaptation actions and
technology related Intellectual Property Rights‘; (ii) under the agenda item ‘Review of implementation
of commitments and other provisions of the Convention‘, to include ‘Equitable access to sustainable
development‘ and ‘Unilateral trade measures‘.
The Indian submission provided the explanatory notes in respect of each additional agenda item
as proposed.
On the intellectual property rights (IPRs) issue, the Indian explanatory note states that “at
Cancun, Parties to UNFCCC agreed to set up a Technology Mechanism and Networks of Climate
Technology Centres with a view to promote cooperation amongst Parties for development and
transfer of technologies. While the Technology Mechanism will help build capacity for deployment
of existing technologies and dissemination of environmentally sound technologies, there is a
need to augment this arrangement in form of removal of constraints at the global level on the
development and availability of climate friendly technologies. An effective and efficient global
regime for management of (IPRs) of climate friendly technologies is critical to the global efforts for
development, deployment, dissemination and transfer of such technologies. In the absence of
such an arrangement, the objective of advancing the nationally appropriate mitigation and adaptation
actions at the scale and speed warranted by the Convention cannot be met effectively and
adequately. Such a regime should promote access to (IPRs) as global public good while rewarding
the innovator and enhance the capacity of developing countries to take effective mitigation and
adaptation actions at the national level. Conference of Parties should urgently decide on addressing
the issue of treating and delivering climate technologies and their IPRs as public good in the
interest of the global goal of early stabilization of climate and advancing developing country
efforts aimed at social and economic development and poverty eradication.”
On the issue of “equitable access to sustainable development”, the explanatory note states that
‘at Cancun, Parties agreed to a global goal for climate stabilization with a view to hold the increase
in global average temperature below 2 degree C above pre-industrial levels and decided that
urgent actions be taken to meet this long term goal consistent with science and on the basis of
equity. Parties also decided to work towards identifying a time frame for global peaking of green
house gas emissions based on the best available scientific knowledge and equitable access to
sustainable development. The decisions at Cancun imply that the global goal of climate stabilization
in terms of limiting the temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels should be
preceded by a paradigm for equitable access to sustainable development. The achievement of the
global goal must not compromise the sustainable development imperatives of developing countries
and must fully take into account the overriding priority of social and economic development and
poverty eradication in such countries. Keeping in mind the objective of identifying the suitable
timeframe for reducing the global emissions on the basis of equitable access to sustainable
development, the principle of equity must be defined so as to recognize that the global atmospheric
resource is the common property of all mankind and each human being has equal entitlement to
use of this resource in the interest of meeting the overriding priorities of developing countries.‘
On the issue of “unilateral trade measures”, the note states that, “at Cancun, Parties agreed to
promote a supportive and open international economic system. Parties decided, inter-alia, that
measures taken to combat climate change including unilateral ones should not constitute a means
of arbitrary or unjustifiable discrimination or a disguised restriction on international trade. Unilateral
Trade Measures (UTMs) include tariff, non-tariff, and other fiscal and non-fiscal border trade
measures that may be taken by developed country Parties, against goods and services from
developing country Parties. Recourse to UTMs on any grounds related to climate change, including
protection and stabilization of climate, emissions leakage and/or cost of environment compliance
would be tantamount to passing mitigation burden onto developing countries, and would clearly
contravene the fundamental principles and provisions of equity, common but differentiated
responsibility and respective capabilities, and the principle enshrined in Article 3 of the Convention.
Parties should expressly prohibit use of unilateral trade measures on such grounds, as they will
have negative environmental, social and economic consequences for developing countries and
compromise the principles and provisions of the Convention.”
Attempts were made to negotiate and amend the elements of the provisional agenda for COP 17
that included the new issues proposed by India, under the discussions on ‘arrangements for
intergovernmental meetings‘ (AIMs) in a contact group of the SBI. Developed countries, especially
the United States, are of the view that these issues have been settled in Cancun. However, most
developing countries are of the view that not all the issues were addressed in Cancun and are still
unresolved.
Arctic Ice Shelf Might have Broken up Before
Researchers think a Canadian ice shelf had
broken up 1,400 years ago, long before
industrialisation impacted the planet.
A study of sedimentary material on the bottom
of Disraeli Fjord in Canada turned up proof of
what the team from Universite Laval in Canada
described as a major fracturing event 1,400 years
ago.
They believe at least an ice shelf, Ward Hunt
north of Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada, the
largest remaining ice shelf in the Arctic at 170
square miles, broke up and then re-froze 800
years ago, the journal Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences reports.
Ice shelves are thick ice crusts which have been
pushed out to sea by the pressure from glaciers.
They act as dams in fjords and result in sediment
building up at the boundary between fresh water
from the ice and salt water from the ocean,
according to the Daily Mail.
Researchers used carbon dating and other
techniques to examine the sediment and were
able to create a timeline of events.
They found the ice shelf appeared 4,000 years
ago staying whole for several thousand years
before fracturing 1,400 years ago. They said it
didn’t fully re-freeze until 800 years ago. It began
to shrink again almost 100 years ago and is
getting smaller every year.
Dermot Antoniadesa from Universite Laval said:
‘At this point, it doesn’t appear that the shelf
ice around Ellesmere Island is any smaller now
than it was during the previous period of
warming, but because it’s still shrinking, it’s
possible it could become, an unprecedented
event.’
Ice shelves in the Arctic lost more than 90
percent of their total surface area during the
20th century and are continuing to disintegrate
rapidly.
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BASIC Countries Meet in China for Climate Talks
With barely a month left for the global climate
change negotiations in Durban, ministers from
BASIC countries (Brazil, South Africa, India and
China) will hold a crucial meeting in Beijing to
discuss their perspectives on key issues.
China will host the ninth BASIC ministerial meet
Oct 31-Nov 1. A meeting of experts will be held
alongside this meeting to carve out a strategy
for the United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of
Parties 17 (COP 17) to be held in Durban, South
Africa, Nov 28-Dec 9.
Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan will
be representing India in the China talks. She
said that BASIC countries are likely to carry
forward their discussions on the issues raised
during the last meeting in Brazil. India will raise
the issue of South Africa linking extension of
Kyoto Protocol (only legally binding agreement
that calls for mandatory emission cuts by rich
countries and voluntary cuts by developing
nations) with a legal pact that covers all
countries. India is also likely to discuss its recent
Scientists worldwide are looking for evidence
that the ozone layer is beginning to heal, but
this year’s data from Antarctica does not hint at
a turnaround.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) and NASA use
balloon-borne instruments, ground instruments
and satellites to monitor the annual South Pole
ozone hole, global levels of ozone and the
manmade chemicals that contribute to ozone
depletion.
The ozone layer helps protect the earth from
harmful ultraviolet radiation, but environmental
factors punch a hole through it every year, for
India will engage 100,000 educated youths to
execute an ambitious Green India Mission (GIM)
which seeks to increase the country’s forest
cover to 33 percent from 20 percent within 10
years. The Rs.46,000 crore ($9 billion) plan is
one of the eight missions under the National
Action Plan on Climate Change announced by
the prime minister in June 2008.
The GIM document was prepared in June last
year and the countrywide consultation is now
on. With 2011-12 being the preparatory year,
GIM would be implemented by the Twelfth and
Thirteenth Five Year Plans (2012-13 to 2016-2017
and 2017-18 to 2021-22).
GIM also targets improvement of forest-based
livelihood for about three million households
living in and around forests. According to the
Washing machines are becoming a major source
of harmful microplastic pollution – bits of
polyester and acrylic smaller than a pinhead –
which is littering sea shores worldwide.
Mark Browne at Ireland’s University College
Dublin and colleagues explained that the
accumulation of microplastic debris in marine
environments has raised health and safety
concerns. ‘Designers of clothing and washing
machines should consider the need to reduce
the release of fibres into wastewater and
research is needed to develop methods for
removing microplastic from sewage,’ said
Browne, according to a university statement.
The plastic bits contain harmful ingredients
which go into the bodies of animals and could
be transferred to people who consume fish, the
journal Environmental Science and Technology
reported.
Ozone not Healing
proposal to the UNFCCC calling for including
three contentious issues that have been left out
during the Cancun, Mexico, talks last year. The
issues are unilateral trade measures, intellectual
property rights (IPR) and equitable access to
sustainable development.
The Joint Statement of Ministers issued at the
end of the Brazil meeting in August 2011
reiterated the importance of achieving ‘a
comprehensive, balanced and ambitious result
in Durban in the context of sustainable
development and in accordance with the
provisions and principles of the UNFCCC, in
particular the principles of equity and common
but differentiated responsibilities and respective
capabilities’.
Industrialised or developed countries have a
historical responsibility to cut emissions, since
they have been emitting greenhouse gases for
several years. The developing world, on the
other hand, insists on its right to industrialise,
and resists emission cuts. This is the key point
of disagreement between the two blocs.
several weeks.
The Antarctic ozone hole, which yawns wide
every spring, reached its annual peak on Sep
12, stretching 10.05 million square miles, the
ninth largest on record.
Other key ingredients are ozone-depleting
chemicals that remain in the atmosphere and ice
crystals on which ozone-depleting chemical
reactions take place.
Levels of most ozone-depleting chemicals are
slowly declining due to international action, but
many have long lifetimes, remaining in the
atmosphere for decades.
100,000 Community Foresters to help Green India
GIM document, on account of management of
shifting cultivation areas under different agrisystems,
the area under age-old ‘jhum’ or
shifting cultivation had come down from 1.87
million hectares in 2003 to 1.2 million hectares in
2005-06. Tribals in the hilly terrain of northeast
and other areas have for generations been
carrying out the traditional slash-and-burn
method of cultivation, which has resulted in
degradation of forest land and badly affected
soil quality.
GIM aims at enhancing carbon sinks in
sustainably managed forests and other ecosystems,
adaptation of vulnerable species and
eco-systems to the changing climate and
adaptation of forest-dependent locals in the face
of climate variability.
Washing Machines Polluting Sea Shores
Ingested microplastic can transfer and persist
in their cells for months. How big is the problem
of microplastic contamination? Where are these
materials coming from?
To answer the questions, the scientists looked
for microplastic contamination along 18 coasts
around the world and did some detective work
to track down a likely source of this
contamination, the statement said.
They found more microplastic on shores in
densely populated areas, and identified an
important source — wastewater from
household washing machines.
They point out that more than 1,900 fibres can
rinse off of a single garment during a wash
cycle, and these fibres look just like the
microplastic debris on shorelines.
Sea Levels will Rise by 60 cm by 2100
Sea levels will rise by 60 cm by the end of the century and by another 180 cm over the next four
centuries, submerging many low-lying and coastal areas worldwide, researchers have said.
Researchers from the University of Copenhagen and others arrived at these figures based on rates
of emission from greenhouse gases and pollution using climate models, the journal Global and
Planetary Change reports.
‘Based on the current situation, we have projected changes in sea level 500 years into the future,’
explains Aslak Grinsted, researcher at the Centre for Ice and Climate, University of Copenhagen.
Cutting edge advances and strong international cooperation to stop emission of greenhouse
gases would not reverse the rise of the sea, according to a statement from the university.
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