Transfer technology to fight climate change:India tells West

New Delhi, Mar 13 (UNI) India today told a delegation of French Parliamentarians that any approach to climate change must address its first and foremost concern of poverty alleviation, economic growth and energy security.

It also impressed upon the visiting legislators, who have come here to know about the government's stand on climate change, the need of including nuclear energy in the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) as it was the cleanest source of energy.

Secretary in the Ministry of Environment and Forest Pradipto Ghosh told the delegation that the EU emission trading scheme has some barriers like caps on CERs, reservation of large hydro projects and sinks, so these issues needed to be addressed by the EU at the earliest so that health CDM market comes up.

The French Parliamentarians said they were in favour of inclusion of carbon sinks and nuclear energy in EU-ETS scheme.

Minister of State Namo Narain Meena, who received the delegation, told them that the conventions and protocol call for transfer of technology and finanacial resources to developing countries for reducing emmisions, but this had not happened to a significant extent.

The delegates were told that there was an urgent need for France and other developed countries to commit financial resources as well as technologies in the area of adaptation because developing countries would be worst sufferers of climate change.

He said India would like that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's proposal made at the Gleneagles Summit for undertaking collaborative R&D in clean technologies by netwroking of research institutions, with sharing of the resultant IPRs (Intellectual Propoerty Rights) should be pursued.

The Parliamentarians agreed that research and transfer of technology should be encouraged to fight against climate change.

They showed interest in knowing the measures India took in transport and housing sectors to reduce green house gas emmissions.

Both sides further explored the possibilities of strengthening cooperation in the area of climate change and clean environmental technologies.

UNI NAZ LR KN1713