Rich countries dodging; Poor countries demanding

Warsaw, November 19: The developing countries including India have asked the developed nations to come out with timeline to provide the green climate fund (GCF)without any delay. There are expectations that they would urge the rich countries to provide at least a small percentage of the allotment before winding up the UN climate change summit in Warsaw. Negotiators said they do not want the Warsaw summit to end like yet another talk game. They said they would push the developed nations to finalise the road map for issuance of the GCF.

Speaking to me one of the negotiators of India said, “The whole game of providing US $100 as GCF by developed countries to developing nations before 2020 should not go on and on. We want them to arrive at a road map of giving away the money. We will urge them to talk clearly about the allotment during this week.”

When asked about the proceedings in the last one week, negotiators said that the talks were not concrete. “We spent almost three to four hours everyday in seminars. But there was no light. As ministers from all countries would arrive in a day or two, we expect things to fall in place,” they said.

Key negotiator of India Ravid Shankar Prasad, joint secretary of union environment ministry said, “Developed countries want to delay the flow of funds for the loss and damage due to environmental calamities in developing countries. They want a separate window for the loss and damage funds. But the developing nations are very particular that there is no need for a new window. The funds could be given along with the GCF.” He added that opening a new window is time consuming process and there is need for that.