BASIC meet on Sunday as deadline nears

New Delhi, Jan 23 (PTI) Environment Ministers of four
major developing countries, including India, meet here on
Sunday in a bid firm its strategy in the wake of the January
31 deadline of conveying their stand on legally-non-binding
Copenhagen Accord and greenhouse gas emission cut plans.
Ahead of the meeting of ministers from Brazil, South
Africa, India and China (BASIC), Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC) chief R K Pachauri Saturday expressed
the hope that Sunday's meet would provide some direction for a
binding pact to reduce carbon emissions in climate change
summit in Mexico slated for December this year.
"They (Basic countries) should provide some direction
becuase it's not just enough to come up with the Copenhagen
Accord and leave it suspended," said the head of the IPCC.
"It (the Accord) needs to be used as a basis by which we
can get a firm and binding agreement at Mexico meet (later
this year)," he told reporters here.
Pachauri also advocated a need for a clear plan by
which the "BASIC nations involve the other countries of the
world in agreeing with the basic elements of the Accord
including a two degree Celsius limit in temperature.
29 countries, including India, accepted the Copenhagen
Accord which was opposed by several lesser developed
countries, including small island nations and Sunday's meeting
of BASIC could decided how to take them onboard.
"One of the good features of the Accord is that it ended
with an agreement to limit temperature to a maximum of 2
degree Celsius which is driven by the science that we provided
in IPCC's fourth assessment report," the UN panel chief said.
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