Kyoto Protocol to be BASIC's priority

NEW DELHI: The BASIC quartet - Brazil, South Africa, India and China - have sent out the message that agreeing on the second commitment period for the Kyoto Protocol is "the central priority "for the year-end climate change meet at Durban, South Africa.

At the recent BASIC ministerial meet at Inhotim in Brazil, the quartet stressed that a failure to resolve the Kyoto issue would "generate a challenge to multilateralism and would undermine the rules-based multilateral response to climate change under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change."

However, the four emerging economies gave no indication about their position on the contentious issue of a legal outcome for the Bali track of negotiations. This is a key demand of small island states and African countries.

In the past, the BASIC has always sought to reach out to these countries as part of its effort present a unified position for all developing countries. Silence on this key issue, which could be a counter for a second commitment period for the Kyoto Protocol, does raise some questions.

At the Inhotim meet, Brazil, South Africa, India and China called on industrialised nations to step up their commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. "We demand that industrialised countries set more meaningful objectives toward carbon emission reductions than what they have presented up to now... The bloc of four emerging market countries has done a lot to combat climate change and presented ambitious objectives," Brazilian foreign minister Antonio Patriota said at the eighth BASIC ministerial.

Xie Zhenhua, vice-chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission of China, called for greater cooperation from industrialized countries at the UN climate change summit to be held in Durban. We want to deepen the dialogue with developed nations so that a joint effort for the Durban conference will yield satisfactory results and equality for all parties," Xie Zhenhua said.