India is all set to host the 22nd meeting of BASIC countries on climate change. The ongoing 21st meet that concluded at Beijing on Saturday with Ministers of the BASIC grouping stressed the equal importance of adaptation and mitigation measures during the forthcoming climate meet in Paris.
The meeting was attended by representatives of BASIC countries including Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar, Xie Zhenhua, Special Representative for Climate Change of China, Izabella Teixeira, Minister for the Environment of Brazil, Judy Beaumont, Deputy Director-General of the Department of Environmental Affairs South Africa, amongst others.
The members pointed out that collective commitments must confirm that adaptation is a global responsibility. The Paris agreement should ensure the provision of adequate international support to developing countries, based on their needs and costs of adaptation. This should include support for enhanced adaptation plans, policies, programmes and actions of developing countries.
The BASIC Ministers emphasised that developed countries must provide financial resources, technology development and transfer and capacity-building support to developing countries for their ambitious mitigation and adaptation actions under the Paris agreement, including in particular through periodically formulating, communicating and implementing their forward-looking targets, strategies, plans and policies on financial support, in order to progressively and substantially scale up their support in the post-2020 period, with USD 100 billion per year as a starting point.
BASIC Ministers further emphasised that contributions should be nationally determined and comprehensive, covering mitigation, adaptation and provision of support by developed countries to developing countries. Ministers also reaffirmed that ambition and progression should cover both action and support.
The Ministers underscored the need for technology development and transfer to developing countries. The Paris agreement should provide for strengthening the existing technology mechanism, with a view to promoting cooperation on research and development, demonstration and diffusion of environmentally sound technologies and know-how, in particular addressing the issue of intellectual property rights by creating a window under the Green Climate Fund (GCF).
They emphasised the importance of holding the increase in average global temperature below 2°C related to pre-industrial levels, through enhanced mitigation, adaptation and means of implementation for both.