India blames climate change on developed countries

Facing sustained pressure from the developed world to undertake emission cut targets,India has sought to turn the tables by arguing that the currently observed effects of climate change could almost entirely be attributed to historically accumulated greenhouse gases in the atmosphere for which only the developed nations were responsible.

As the negotiations for finalising a post-Kyoto framework on Climate Change enters its last stages,India on Friday made it clear that it would oppose any move to lay disproportionate emphasis on the current levels of emissions. India is currently the third biggest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world,behind the United States and China,though it accounts for only 4 per cent of the total emissions. Both,the United States and China,account for over 16 per cent of global emissions.

Current emissions are important but not the entire story. Of course,they are adding to the problem incrementally. But the main problem is the accumulated stock of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere as a result of carbon-based industrial activity in developed countries for the past two centuries and more, said Shyam Saran,Prime Minister Manmohan Singhs special envoy on climate change.

The latest enunciation of Indias stand on the issue comes barely a month before one of the Ad-Hoc Working Groups under United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change UNFCCC meets in Bonn.