Despite their differences on many issues, India and China are looking closer in dealing climate change issues. India’s environment minister and chief climate change negotiator Jairam Ramesh recently said in his interview to Time magazine that he look upon cooperation in environment as a strategic tool for building regional ties with our neighbors. We are looking at regional programs in glaciology with China, Nepal, Bhutan and Pakistan. India has given $1 million to the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Coastal Zone Management Center in the Maldives, and $1 million to the SAARC Forestry Center in Thimpu. We also have [signed] the SAARC convention on environment in April this year, and we have a joint Sundarbans Eco-System Forum between India and Bangladesh.
His statement came when climate change negotiations ended in Tianjin, China with another bleak note. The gathering was the final meeting before the U.N. Climate Change Conference gets underway in Cancun in November, and the first time that such a high-level meeting has been convened in China. As in the past, the U.S. and China continued to lock horns on an emissions target, with the U.S. deputy special envoy for climate change hinting that the U.S. might go outside the ambit of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to forge a new deal with other key economies.
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2025113,00.html#ixzz13B3FnhUa
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