Rajani Nagesh Tadimalla

Far away in Durban, South Africa 194 countries agreed on a landmark deal on the significant issue of climate change. The Durban Summit was significant as the first commitment period ends next year. Devoid of the hype received by previous Summits, the leaders arrived at an agreement after intense round of negotiations. The positives of the Summit include extension of the commitment period, negotiating a global treaty by 2015, which would bring all countries in the legal ambit to reduce green house gas emissions w.e.f. from 2020, creation of the Green Climate Fund to aid poor countries battle the disastrous effects of climate change. While we would not see any real changes soon, the deal is a good step forward at a time, when there was a danger of derailment of the progress made so far. The deal could not have been possible, without the support of United States, which has been reluctant, and intense negotiations between European Union, India and China. India rightly placed emphasis on the importance of equity in reaching an agreement, resulting in last minute negotiations. Climate change is starting to have disastrous effects with many countries in Africa witnessing high temperatures and irregular rainfall resulting in extreme situations such as droughts and floods. The way forward is still difficult, would require intense negotiations in negotiating a global treaty by 2015 and ratification of the same by respective countries before 2020. Still lot of work remains to be done to create awareness at the ground level, developing clean technology, saving forests and wildlife.