India backs NGOs’ gesture at climate talks

WARSAW: India on Thursday expressed its solidarity with the NGOs who walked out from the ongoing climate conference and said that it was a matter of deep concern for New Delhi that there has been absolutely no progress in any of the issues of interest of developing countries.

Reacting to an episode where most of the NGOs, including from India, walked out protesting against inaction of the developed countries in combating climate change and blocking progress in many important areas, environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan said, “Discussions on crucial issues of direct importance to developing countries like Finance, Technology and Loss and Damage have remained deadlocked due to lack of will by developed country Parties”.

“This comes in the backdrop of some developed countries actually reneging on their commitments or decreasing them, “ she said.

Sharing sentiments of the NGOs, Natarajan appealed to developed countries to “show their determination to implement commitments and increase their ambition to address the mitigation gap and provide enhanced means of implementation and ensure that the negotiations reach a meaningful conclusion in the Conference of Parties (COP)”.