All Four BASIC Countries Accept 2016 Earth Day Signing Ceremony Invite

Summary: All four BASIC countries accept 2016 Earth Day Signing Ceremony invite, as announced Thursday, April 7, by Indian Minister of State Prakash Javadekar.

Brazil's José Antônio Marcondes de Carvalho (left) with India's Prakash Javadekar (right): MoEF&CC @moefcc, via Twitter April 7, 2016

A joint statement delivered Thursday, April 7, 2016, by Prakash Javadekar, India’s Minister of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, announces that all four BASIC countries accept the 2016 Earth Day Signing Ceremony, taking place April 22 at United Nations headquarters in New York.

“BASIC countries’ ministers and countries have agreed that they will sign Paris Agreement in New York in UN headquarters on 22nd April, and we will start process of ratification in our countries. And we have urged other countries to do the same,” minister Javadekar states.

The announcement by Minister of State (Independent Charge) Javadekar takes place in New Delhi, India, at the conclusion of the 22nd BASIC Ministerial Meeting on Climate Change. Joining him in BASIC’s acceptance of the 2016 Earth Day Signing Ceremony of the Dec. 12, 2015, Paris Agreement are José Antônio Marcondes de Carvalho, Under Secretary-General for the Environment, Energy, Science and Technology in Brazil’s Ministry of External Relations; Maesela David Kekana, Chief Directorate of International Climate Change Relations and Negotiations in South Africa’s Department of Environmental Affairs; and Xie Zhenhua, China’s Special Representative for Climate Change.

Minister Javadekar notes in opening that the 22nd BASIC Ministerial Meeting on Climate Change is the first important post-Paris climate change meeting.

“We welcomed Paris as a milestone agreement in global climate cooperation. We welcomed Paris because it is to enhance the implementation of [the] Convention. We welcomed Paris because Paris reiterates principles of equity, CBDR and RC,” minister Javadekar says in sketching the 21st annual Conference of the Parties (COP21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) as the setting for the landmark global climate change agreement.

The principle of differentiation, expressed as common but differentiated responsibilities (CMDR) and respective capabilities (RC) is a decades-long sensitive issue in global climate change conversations. Familiarly phrased as “the polluter pays,” the principle traces its first global introduction back to the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from June 3 to 14, 1992.

The conference’s document, Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, promotes, in principle 16, “the approach that the polluter should, in principle, bear the cost of pollution, with due regard to the public interest and without distorting international trade and investment.”

The principle’s expression as CBDR and RC emerges March 21, 1994, with the entering into force of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

On Nov. 28, 2009, Brazil, South Africa, India and China formed the BASIC bloc as four newly industrialized countries with common positions on greenhouse gas emissions and climate finance. All four countries subscribe to the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities.

The 18-point document summarized by minister Javadekar at the press conference emphasizes the ongoing importance of the CBDR-RC principle for the effective implementation of the Paris Agreement.

“The Ministers stressed the differentiated obligations in mitigation actions of developed and developing countries, as well as for the provision of support, and emphasized that developed countries should continue to take the lead. They also recalled that the Paris Agreement specifically mentions that the time frame for peaking will be longer for developing countries. Ministers felt that proper anchoring of differentiation in contributions of developed and developing countries is a sound basis for ambitious actions,” states point 9 of “Joint Statement Issued at the Conclusion of the 22nd BASIC Ministerial Meeting on Climate Change.”

Minister Javadekar’s concluding remarks note, “So this is what we deliberated for two days. And it was a very useful meeting, because on 22nd more than 100 countries will sign the Paris Agreement. And immediately thereafter there is a meeting of major economy forum, where all four of us will be there. And therefore today, last two days’ meeting and deliberations, we are proud of many points on which we can work together and also convince the world to make Paris Agreement a success.”

(left to right) Brazil's José Antônio Marcondes de Carvalho, South Africa's Maesela Kekana, India's Prakash Javadekar and China's Zhenhua Xie: Prakash Javadekar @PrakashJavdekar, via Twitter April 7, 2016

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Brazil's José Antônio Marcondes de Carvalho (left) with India's Prakash Javadekar (right): MoEF&CC @moefcc, via Twitter tweet of April 7, 2016, @ https://twitter.com/moefcc/status/717987750012563456

(left to right) Brazil's José Antônio Marcondes de Carvalho, South Africa's Maesela Kekana, India's Prakash Javadekar and China's Zhenhua Xie: Prakash Javadekar @PrakashJavdekar, via Twitter April 7, 2016, @ https://twitter.com/PrakashJavdekar/status/718040982810337280

For further information:

“Joint Statement Issued at the Conclusion of the 22 BASIC Ministerial Meeting on Climate Change.” Republic of South Africa Department of Environmental Affairs. April 7, 2016.
Available @ https://www.environment.gov.za/mediarelease/basic2016_ministerialmeeting

Marriner, Derdriu. “2016 Earth Day Signing Caps 2015 Paris Climate Change Agreement.” Earth and Space News. Tuesday, April 5, 2016.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2016/04/2016-earth-day-signing-caps-2015-paris.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "U.S.-China Joint Statement Accepts Paris Agreement Earth Day Signing." Earth and Space News. Friday, April 1, 2016.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2016/04/us-china-joint-statement-accepts-paris.html

MoEF&CC @moefcc. "Other Ministers - South Africa - Mr. Maesela Kekana, China - Mr Zhenhua Xie, Brazil - Mr J Antonio Marcondes." Twitter. April 7, 2016.
Available @ https://twitter.com/moefcc/status/717987750012563456

MOS (IC) Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Government of India. “Joint Statement Issued at the Conclusion of the 22nd Basic Ministerial Meeting on Climate Change.” YouTube. April 7, 2016.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3zeY9BbngY&feature=youtu.be

Prakash Javadekar @PrakashJavdekar. "#TransformingIndia BASIC countries to sign #ParisAgreement on 22 April 2016 @UN." Twitter. April 7, 2016.
Available @ https://twitter.com/PrakashJavdekar/status/718040982810337280

“Rio Declaration on Environment and Development.” United Nations > General Assembly. General Distr. Aug. 12, 1992.
Available @ http://www.un.org/documents/ga/conf151/aconf15126-1annex1.htm