BASIC nations 8216;very happy8217; with Cancun texts: Ramesh

8220;We have a Cancun agreement,8221; he said,noting that the BASIC countries were 8220;very happy8221; with the text.

The BASIC countries BASIC or G4 are a bloc of four large developing countries 8211; Brazil,South Africa,India and China 8211; formed by an agreement on 28 November 2009.

Over the past two weeks,there has been concern that the talks might fail since Japan and Russia have said that they will not commit to the second period of the Kyoto Protocol,which is the only treaty on climate change that puts legally binding cuts on developed countries.

In the last few days,negotiators have struggled to formulate text that accommodates the desire of the majority of developing countries to continue with the Kyoto Protocol,and also not to force Japan and Russia into a second commitment period.

The first commitment period,which expires at the end of 2012,requires industrialized countries to reduce their greenhouse gases by 5 per cent from 1990 levels.

The text currently calls for the parties to act so that 8220;there is no gap between the first and second commitment periods.8221;

Observers here have interpreted the text differently 8211; some groups have said that it is a 8220;weak8221; text that will eventually lead to the death of Kyoto Protocol,while others look at it workable 8220;compromise8221; for the moment.

Observers also said that while the two texts may be considered a significant political step in moving the negotiations forward,they were not really helpful in combating climate change and the compromises were not rooted in what the science demanded.

8220;It operationalized the Copenhagen Accord and considering the Copenhagen Accord pledges are not adequate this is disastrous for the environment,8221; said Chandra Bhushan from the Centre of Science and Environment.

The reaction to the text of the long-term plan to combat climate change has also been mixed.

Ramesh said that many of India8217;s contribution had been incorporated in the text including the International Consultation and Analysis,which is a transparency mechanism to review whether developing countries are carrying out their domestic mitigation actions.