SAARC to raise voice at climate summit

This has been decided at the SAARC environment ministers’ conference that ended here on Tuesday. On behalf of the SAARC ministers, Sri Lanka will make the statement at Copenhagen.

All SAARC nations are climate victims in some way or other as they are vulnerable to drought, flood and landslides.

Opposing the developed world’s (read US) stance, the SAARC countries reaffirmed that there would be no shift from the UNFCCC, Kyoto Protocol and Bali Action Plan which makes distinctions between the developed and developing nations on their role in tackling climate change. Before the Copenhagen summit, a compendium enlisting the national action plans of all SAARC members will be published to highlight the actions being taken by the South Asian bloc.

India continues to play the Big Brother’s role in the assembly of South Asian nations. New Delhi has agreed to set up instruments in its SAARC neighbours to observe the subcontinent weather holistically.

In the first step, India proposes to establish 50 automatic weather stations, 3 GPS Sonde stations and one Doppler radar each in Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh, Union environment minister Jairam Ramesh said, without disclosing the schedule to complete the first phase.