India, China, Brazil and South Africa — the BASIC group of developing countries — on Tuesday sought to bridge their differences and strike a common position ahead of this month's climate change conference in Durban, calling on the West to ensure the extension of the Kyoto Protocol as well as step up financial and technological assistance to developing countries. The Durban conference, they said in a joint statement, “should achieve a...

-Express News Service   The Human Development Report (HDR), 2011 released today has ranked India at 134th among 187 countries in the Human Development Index (HDI). With an HDI value of 0.547 — where 1 is the highest and zero lowest — India fares worse than the average global value of 0.682, and compares with the HDI value of 0.548 for the South Asian region. Norway sits on top of the pile. India has,...

—PTI   The Environment Ministers of BASIC countries — Brazil, South Africa, India and China — will frame a common position ahead of the crucial Durban climate conference due next month on several issues including the second commitment period of Kyoto protocol. Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan will visit Beijing on Monday to attend the ninth meeting of BASIC countries. It is mainly for preparing the negotiations for the United Nations Framework Convention on...

The contentious issue of finance will be among the key items that will take centrestage at the UN-sponsored climate talks in Durban. Predictable and continuous funding to undertake steps to tackle climate change lies at the core of a balanced global deal. At the pre-conference meeting, South Africa said that the Durban meet should go beyond operationalising the Green Climate Fund agreed on at the Cancun meet. Pretoria indicated that...

-The Telegraph   Calcutta is among six cities worldwide at “extreme risk” of facing natural hazards of climate change, including the impacts of sea level rise, but with a poor capacity to respond, says a report released today. The report on climate change vulnerability from Maplecroft, a private UK-based risk analysis company, also predicts that Mumbai, Chennai and Delhi are among 10 cities across the world that face a “high risk” of the...