Salvaging a win-win from a failed meet

Over the past few days,it was becoming increasingly clear that some sort of compromise over the demand of the rich countries to have an international monitoring mechanism....

Over the past few days,it was becoming increasingly clear that some sort of compromise over the demand of the rich countries to have an international monitoring mechanism for the voluntary domestic actions announced by the developing countries,like India and China,would be the most crucial aspect in getting a political agreement at Copenhagen.

And so it has been. The most striking thing about the seemingly toothless political accord announced here is not the apparent lack of any emission reduction targets or timeframe but the presence of a couple of lines in para 5 of the 8-page document that deals with mitigation actions of the developing countries.

After stating that the voluntary mitigation actions by the developing countries would be subject to their domestic measurement,reporting and verification,the result of which will be reported through their national communications every two years, the accord goes on to say that these countries will communicate information on the implementation of their actions through national communications,with provisions for international consultations and analysis under clearly defined guidelines that will ensure that national sovereignty is respected.

The United States and the other rich countries have been adamant in demanding international verification of domestic actions of the developing countries,something that India and China are not comfortable with.

In the last couple of days,when it became apparent that it could make or break a deal,there has been an attempt from both sides to couch it in a language that can be interpreted in either way so that neither side is seen to be giving in. Words like explanation or clarification were earlier being used but finally what was included was consultations and analysis.

On Thursday,therefore,Indian Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh and Chinese Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs He Yafei both told reporters that their respective countries were willing to explain or clarify the results of their mitigation actions but would not allow any reassessment of data.

We have no problems in providing any clarification on the data or the methodology that is used to calculate the results of our mitigation actions. What is not acceptable to us is any notion of verification wherein we are told that our data is not right or that it is inadequate in the light of climate goals, Ramesh said.

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The Indian and the Chinese delegations have held hectic parleys with the US negotiators on how to sort out their disagreement over monitoring and verification to mutual satisfaction.

The political accord shows how these differences were finally resolved.