Optimism after countries agree on draft in GenevaOn the last day of the Geneva Climate Change talks on Friday, countries agreed on a negotiating text for the 2015 agreement.
Responding to the new draft text, Julie Ann Richards of the Climate Justice Program said there is a new breath of optimism for an ambitious climate agreement in Paris and there is also ownership by countries. The text has got bulkier in the latest round of talks and gone up to 140 pages, she added during a briefing of the Climate Action Network in Geneva. It was important to scale up financial support and ensure a high level meeting for loss and damage.
The important thing is that there are enough good options in the text including a call to end fossil fuel emissions which were promising, she added. Tasneem Essop of the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) said a number of countries have to ratify a second commitment period for the Kyoto Protocol. The pre-2020 ambitions also needed to be enhanced.
Keeping up the trend in global climate talks by industrialised nations to deny historical responsibilities, the U.S. had sprung a new term “bifurcation” and ending the two different categories of developed and developing countries at the ongoing talks in Geneva. An Indian official here said even if the U.S. uses different words, India would stick to its stand of common but differentiated responsibilities.
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) issued a statement saying that a key milestone towards a new, universal agreement on climate change was reached in Geneva following seven days of negotiations by over 190 nations. The agreement is set to be reached in Paris at the end of 2015 and will come into effect in 2020.
Formal work and negotiations on the text will continue at the Climate Change Conference in Bonn in June with two further formal sessions planned for later in the year including in October, the UNFCCC said. “I am extremely encouraged by the constructive spirit and the speed at which negotiators have worked during the past week,” said UNFCCC executive secretary Christiana Figueres. “The Lima Draft has now been transformed into the negotiating text and enjoys the full ownership of all countries,” she added.
Responding to the new draft text, Julie Ann Richards of the Climate Justice Program said there is a new breath of optimism for an ambitious climate agreement in Paris and there is also ownership by countries. The text has got bulkier in the latest round of talks and gone up to 140 pages, she added during a briefing of the Climate Action Network in Geneva. It was important to scale up financial support and ensure a high level meeting for loss and damage.
The important thing is that there are enough good options in the text including a call to end fossil fuel emissions which were promising, she added. Tasneem Essop of the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) said a number of countries have to ratify a second commitment period for the Kyoto Protocol. The pre-2020 ambitions also needed to be enhanced.
Keeping up the trend in global climate talks by industrialised nations to deny historical responsibilities, the U.S. had sprung a new term “bifurcation” and ending the two different categories of developed and developing countries at the ongoing talks in Geneva. An Indian official here said even if the U.S. uses different words, India would stick to its stand of common but differentiated responsibilities.
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) issued a statement saying that a key milestone towards a new, universal agreement on climate change was reached in Geneva following seven days of negotiations by over 190 nations. The agreement is set to be reached in Paris at the end of 2015 and will come into effect in 2020.
Formal work and negotiations on the text will continue at the Climate Change Conference in Bonn in June with two further formal sessions planned for later in the year including in October, the UNFCCC said. “I am extremely encouraged by the constructive spirit and the speed at which negotiators have worked during the past week,” said UNFCCC executive secretary Christiana Figueres. “The Lima Draft has now been transformed into the negotiating text and enjoys the full ownership of all countries,” she added.
Highly placed sources told The Hindu that both sides are working on dates for a possible February-end meeting between China’s visiting state councilor, Yang Jiechi, and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, who is also India’s Special Representative on the boundary issue.
Keeping up the momentum of high-level exchanges following External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj’s visit to China earlier this month, Wang Jiarui, head of the International Department of the central committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), called on Mr. Modi on Friday.
Xinhua is reporting that the Prime Minister advocated stronger economic and trade ties between two countries, which, in his view, would help New Delhi and Beijing play a “more important role” in Asia and the world.
Ms. Swaraj had visited China, shortly after the high-profile visit to India by U.S. President Barack Obama, signalling that India’s “multi-vectored diplomacy” of simultaneous engagement with the major powers was in full flow.
Sources said that her Chinese hosts had gone out of their way to welcome Ms. Swaraj — marking a subtle “correction” of their disposition towards the Minister, on whom the focus was somewhat blurred during President Xi Jinping’s visit to India in September last.
In Munich, Mr. Yang and Mr. Doval had advocated an acceleration of the boundary talks.
Following that meeting, Global Times — a daily associated with the CPC — ran an op-ed titled, “Sino-Indian border deal requires clear signals.”
It pointed out that India was sending mixed signals regarding the border.
“India's regular patrolling along the border areas has been stepped up, and a massive infrastructure programme has been launched in these areas. Under such circumstances, more patience is needed for a breakthrough of the solution” said the daily.
However, the article acknowledged that “India is making efforts in showing flexibility and creating a favourable atmosphere on resolving the issue.”
The write-up quoting Ms. Swaraj’s advocacy for an “out of the box” solution to the border issue, stressed that such an approach is likely to be reflected in “a breakthrough over the eastern part of the border, which contains the most controversial area between China and India.”
Slamming what it called was the “illegal McMahon Line,” the op-ed, based on an interview with Lan Jianxue, an associate research fellow with the China Institute of International Studies, stressed that, “If India won’t make adjustments over the line, there will be no suggestion whatsoever that the two sides are any closer to agreeing.”
On the contrary, analysts say that during the upcoming boundary talks, India would be looking for “greater flexibility” from the Chinese side, and also gauge whether it reflects the changing internal power dynamics in China, and the diminishing role of “hardliners,” in tune with Mr. Xi’s consolidation of power.
EC drive to link electoral rolls with AadhaarThe Election Commission will conduct an electoral roll purification and authentication drive (ERPAD) by linking electoral rolls with Aadhaar numbers from March 1 to August 15, Chief Election Commissioner H.S. Brahma said here on Saturday.
The linking will, however, be voluntary and has nothing to do with the right to vote, Mr. Brahma said. The exercise will largely help find out duplicate or multiple entries of voters on rolls and fake voter cards. “It will also help prevent impersonation during elections … ,” he said at a press conference.
The drive will be completed in 676 districts by August 15 in all States barring Jammu and Kashmir and those in the Northeast, which will be given a couple of months more.
Mr. Brahma said all 84 crore voters in the country had been issued elector photo identity cards (EPICs), but the number of Aadhaar cards was 74 crore. Asked if the commission would initiate any steps to act against political parties for not keeping promises in their manifestos, Mr. Brahma said, “What can we do? Voters act against such parties on their own every five years.” He, however, observed that only five to 10 % of the electoral promises were kept.
Ruling out the possibility of online (Internet-based) voting in the near future, he said it would require a constitutional amendment and 100 per cent literacy. On electronic voting machines (EVMs), Mr. Brahma said about eight-lakh pre-2006 EVMs had to be replaced to prevent snags during polling. The commission recently bought 20,000 machines.
Boeing hints at price escalation in copter dealAerospace major Boeing, which is participating in a big way in the ‘Aero India 2015’ starting on February 18 and which has pledged support for the ‘Make in India’ initiative of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in defence, on Friday indicated a price increase in the $2.5-billion deal for attack and heavy-lift helicopters.
“They [the Defence Ministry] kept asking for extensions, and we did provide them as and when appropriate. It is not always possible to keep extending, because we live in a world where we feel inflationary pressure,” said Pratyush Kumar, president, Boeing India, if India fails to ink the deal at the earliest.
Mr. Kumar said: “We are focussing our efforts to support the Prime Minister’s ‘Make in India’ initiative by developing a competitive supplier base in the country that is fully integrated into Boeing’s global supply chain, and we are skilling the front-line workforce to become capable of supporting aerospace-grade manufacturing.”
Responding to questions from the media on how long the commercial bids were valid, Mr. Kumar said the deal had been going on for 4-5 years with the commercial bids having been extended multiple times. This might not be possible for much longer, and “it is in everyone’s interest to sign the deal at the earliest.”
India has selected the Apache AH-64 attack helicopters and the Chinook heavy-lift helicopters after evaluation. But India is yet to give final approval for the contract to be signed.
The deal is for 22 Apache helicopters, with an option for 11 more, and 15 Chinooks, with an option for seven more. The optional clause has to be exercised within two years from the delivery of the last helicopter in each deal.
India’s forest cover up by 5,871 sq kmOf the 5,871 sq km increase in the forest cover of India, West Bengal accounts for nearly 64 per cent of this rise, reveals the latest report of Forest Survey of India.
A study conducted by the Forest Survey of India that was recently published points out that West Bengal’s forest cover has increased by 3,810 sq km, which is followed by Odisha where increase in forest cover has been 1,444 km and Kerala where the increase has been about 622 sq km.
Commenting on the increase in forest cover in West Bengal, Principle Chief Conservator of Forest, West Bengal, Azam Zaidi told The Hinduthat along with other steps the State’s joint forest management, which involves the participation of the local people, is one of the reasons for the increase.
“Increase in the forest cover of the State is mainly due to coppice growth (dense growth of small tress) and afforestation inside the forests, growth of commercial plantations and shade trees in tea gardens,” the FSI report states.
West Bengal, a state with high population density, has only 18.93 percent forest cover.
Depletion in north-eastInterestingly States from northeast like Nagaland, Arunanchal Pradesh, Tripura and Manipur, whose forest cover comprises over 75 percent of the State’s area, have shown a decrease in forest cover. “The current assessment shows a decrease in forest cover to the extent of 627 sq km in the north eastern region. The main reason for this is attributed to the biotic pressure and shifting cultivation in the region,” the report says.
In Andhra Pradesh, a State with 16.77 percent of its area covered by forest, there has been a decrease of 273 km of forest area. While the forest cover has decreased by 176 sq km in Madhya Pradesh and 53 km in Chhattishgarh, it has increased by 496 sq km in Jharkhand and 446 sq km in Bihar.
The Satellite based remote sensing data that has been used for estimating the change in forest cover has shown that that there has been an increase of 31 sq km of ‘very dense’ forest cover compared to the last assessment carried two years ago. It has also revealed that ‘moderately dense’ forest has decreased by 1,991 sq km while ‘open forests’ have increased by 7,891 sq km, putting the overall increase at 5,871 sq km.
Pak. violates ceasefire, fires mortar shellsIndia and Pakistan on Saturday traded charges of violating ceasefire along the border area.
Pakistani Rangers fired two to three mortar shells in Nowapind border outpost area along the International Border in R.S. Pura sector of the district on Saturday night, BSF PRO S. Yadav, said. The shells exploded at an isolated area and no one was injured on this side, he said, adding that the BSF did not retaliate.
Meanwhile, Pakistan army claimed that a 60-year-old civilian was killed on Saturday in alleged firing by Indian troops across the LoC. Muhammad Aslam was killed in Polas village in Rawlakot sector this afternoon, it said. It also lodged a protest with India through diplomatic channels over the civilian’s death, Pakistan’s Foreign Office said in a statement. — PTI
Iraqi Sunni leader assassinatedA Sunni tribal leader and at least seven other people were killed in Baghdad in an attack that could further inflame sectarian tension in Iraq, officials said on Saturday.
Unidentified gunmen attacked a two-car convoy carrying Sheikh Qassem Sweidan al-Janabi and his nephew, lawmaker Zeid al-Janabi, late on Friday, officials and security sources said.
Mr. Janabi was later released but the tribal leader, seen as a moderate Sunni, as well as his son and at least six other people, mostly bodyguards, were killed.
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