New Delhi:
What's the per capita debate? It's one of the central themes of the Copenhagen Summit.
The world is divided over how much each country should cut back their emissions. Developing countries argue that the final target should be for each country to have the same pollution levels per person, or the same emissions per capita.
The developed countries say this is unfair as it rewards over-population and if India and China have the same per-capita emission levels as advanced nations, the world pollution levels will shoot high enough to destroy the Earth.
Only one leader of the advanced nations - Merkel of Germany - has publicly agreed with developed countries and said that equal per-capita emission targets seems a fair solution. But no other advanced nation has agreed with per-capita emissions as a target. And so far India and other developed countries have stuck to their stand that it's only fair that all countries eventually have the same per-capita emission levels.
This big divide on per capita targets threatened to cause the biggest deadlock at Copenhagen.
The firm stand taken by developing countries was shaken when China on its own announced cutbacks in its future intensity of its emissions. This effectively gave up the per-capita target for all countries.
Apparently under this pressure from China's unilateral announcement, India seemed now to be the only country to hold out for per-capita targets, and Jairam Ramesh, India's Environment Minister seemed to give in too, stating: "India should no longer hide behind its population"
So has India given up its stand on equal per-capita emission for all countries? The Minister insists India's position has not changed.
The minister may be caught between a rock and a hard place: If India carries on with its per capita stand, it will appear to be the only stubborn country to be holding out and blocking an agreement. If India gives up its stand, the Opposition at home will call it a sell-out.
The world is divided over how much each country should cut back their emissions. Developing countries argue that the final target should be for each country to have the same pollution levels per person, or the same emissions per capita.
The developed countries say this is unfair as it rewards over-population and if India and China have the same per-capita emission levels as advanced nations, the world pollution levels will shoot high enough to destroy the Earth.
Only one leader of the advanced nations - Merkel of Germany - has publicly agreed with developed countries and said that equal per-capita emission targets seems a fair solution. But no other advanced nation has agreed with per-capita emissions as a target. And so far India and other developed countries have stuck to their stand that it's only fair that all countries eventually have the same per-capita emission levels.
This big divide on per capita targets threatened to cause the biggest deadlock at Copenhagen.
The firm stand taken by developing countries was shaken when China on its own announced cutbacks in its future intensity of its emissions. This effectively gave up the per-capita target for all countries.
Apparently under this pressure from China's unilateral announcement, India seemed now to be the only country to hold out for per-capita targets, and Jairam Ramesh, India's Environment Minister seemed to give in too, stating: "India should no longer hide behind its population"
So has India given up its stand on equal per-capita emission for all countries? The Minister insists India's position has not changed.
The minister may be caught between a rock and a hard place: If India carries on with its per capita stand, it will appear to be the only stubborn country to be holding out and blocking an agreement. If India gives up its stand, the Opposition at home will call it a sell-out.
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