The stormy weather outside mirrored the mood in the conference room. As the 17th meeting of the Conference of Parties (CoP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) went into overtime in Durban, negotiators fought hard to safeguard their nations’ interests. The Indian delegation, headed by Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan, countered a campaign by the European Union to label India a ‘deal-breaker’. In her first outing as India’s chief climate change negotiator, Natarajan succeeded in getting the country 10 years’ time, before a new treaty to curb emissions comes into being. She also managed to put the principle of equity, ensuring equal development opportunities for all, back on the table. Natarajan countered the EU position: “Am I to sign away the livelihoods and sustainability of 1.2 billion Indians without even knowing what the EU roadmap contains?”
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