The EU today rejected the draft of the Delhi Declaration circulated by the Indian Government at the climate change meet, calling it ‘‘unacceptable’’ and ‘‘unfortunate’’. The delegation also met Union Environment Minister T.R. Baalu, who is the COP-8 chief, today to convey their disagreement.The Delhi Declaration is supposed to outline the direction in which the programme to reduce greenhouse gases will head after the conference.For the first time, the declaration linked climate change to sustainable development and talked more of adaptability of vulnerable communities to climate change rather than ways of reducing carbon emissions. Both these points were opposed by the EU as they insist on keeping the debate on climate change focused exclusively on climate and not on a bargaining game on sustainable development as seen in Johannesburg.The EU delegation said: ‘‘The Delhi Declaration, in the present form, is not at all future-oriented. What will it mean for developed countries for the next commitment period which begins in 2012 is not at all clear.’’They said they had kept the Kyoto protocol going because of their leadership in bringing different countries on board and this draft may start the debate all over again. ‘‘We are missing a mention of the Kyoto protocol and a reference to ultimate aim of climate change convention,’’ said delegation chairman Thomas Becker.The EU was sceptical about the attempt to link the whole issue of climate change to sustainable development. ‘‘To link both these issues completely will not be wise from negotiation point of view.the strength of climate convention and the Kyoto protocol is that they concentrate on environment,’’ he said.‘‘The draft also lacks the mention of an ultimate objective and is too concentrated on the issue of adaptation rather than mitigation even though both are two sides of the same coin,’’ he said.Dismissing the charges that Kyoto protocol had not found a mention in the draft, as alleged by the EU, Baalu said: ‘‘It is very much on our agenda and our endeavour is to get it ratified as quickly as possible.’’
