PACHAURI-PM 2

While sharing the disappointment of many with the
limited achievements of the discussions that took place at the
climate change conference in Copenhagen, Singh said India
fully supported the accord reached there and will take it
forward but made it clear that it was a catalogue of voluntary
commitments and not a negotiated support of legal obligations.
The Copenhagen Accord decided to continue global
discussions to fight climate change as it agreed in a
non-legally binding manner to limit temperature rise below two
degree from the pre-industrial time.
A modest accord that is fully implemented may be better
than an ambitious one that falls seriously short of its
targets, he told the three-day meet being attended by leaders
from Norway, Finland, Bhutan, Greece and other countries.
"This is the lesson that was learnt with regard to the
Kyoto Protocol", he said.
"An ambitious agreement that is observed only in the
breach will discredit the whole process," he said on the
Copenhagen climate change process, while noting that the
countries that have made the commitments willingly have
assured themselves that they can be and will be fulfilled.
On the ongoing debate on IPCC report on Himalayan
glaciers, Singh said this debate did not challenge the core
projections of the UN body about the impact of green house gas
accumulations on temperature, rainfall and sea level rise.
At the same time, he said the government has
established an Indian Network for Comprehensive Climate Change
Assessment comprising 120 research institutes, which will
bring out regular reports on the impacts of climate change on
different sectors and different regions of the country.
"The first such assessment will be released in
November this year," he said. MORE PTI