This refers to Sunita Narain’s column Down to earth (“Will Durban be any different?” October 24). I agree with the author’s views and am really puzzled over the developed and the developing world’s apathy. In the present situation, the conceptualisation of implementation mechanisms to keep the temperature rise below 1.5 degrees Celsius seems like a distant possibility. Also, there seems to be little hope for progress from where the Cancun Conference of Parties (COP) left us. The stakeholders have not been able to come up with an output-oriented discussion in the Ad Hoc Working Group on further commitments for Annex I parties under Kyoto Protocol as well as a long-term cooperation action.
There is no denying the fact that the outcome of gains from the COP 17 meet at Durban does not seem to be very high because of three major issues.
* The gap in the emission reduction pledges across countries.
* The validity of the financial commitments under the shadow of the current debt and financial crisis.
* The future of the Kyoto protocol (the protocol expires in 2012).
As global citizens we all expect some quantifiable progress on the following issues:
* Avoidance of a gap between the first and the second commitment periods of the Kyoto Protocol once the first commitment period gets over in 2012.
* Technical progress on the definition and acceptance of terms like “Compliance, International Assessment & review”.
* Development on the formation of a monitoring system, in the form of standing committees, for accessibility and monitoring of long-term financial and technological commitments.
Ashutosh Kumar Mishra, Bangalore
