Cancun climate talks headed nowhere: Minister

India on Monday said the international community should not expect much from the upcoming Climate Change summit in Cancun and underlined that the West should do more to achieve sustainable development.

"I think frankly Cancun (Mexico) is headed nowhere because the financial commitments made by the developed countries at Copenhagen have not been fulfilled and are unlikely to be fulfilled in any substantial measure," Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh told PTI.

The Climate Change conference in Copenhagen last year yielded the contentious and non-binding Copenhagen Accord.

The Accord was produced by 29 countries, but was principally drafted by the US, China, India, Brazil and South Africa at the eleventh hour of the Conference.

It was slammed by certain countries including Bolivia, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba for having left the majority of the nations out of the negotiating process.

Key elements of the Accord included limit temperature rises to 1.5 degrees, $100 billion on finance in long term finance to developing countries and $30 billion to short-term finance to the poorest and most vulnerable countries.

The climate conference in Cancun is expected to produce a legally binding climate change treaty but so far the developed and developing countries have been unable to reach a consensus on key negotiating texts.

There is still no clear mechanism for the actual collection and disbursement of the aid money pledged in Copenhagen.

"I don't expect a breakthrough but I don't expect a breakdown either," Ramesh said, adding that "expectations should be very very modest."

As part of his week-long trip to New York, Ramesh attended the Global Sustainability Panel meeting at the UN on Sunday and will speak at the Major Economies Forum.

At MEF, Ramesh said he will highlight 'what are the lessons that we learnt from Copenhagen both the process lesson as well as the product lesson' and called for clarity on 'financing issue, technology issues, forestry related issues', among others.

During the week, he will also attend the Conference on Biodiversity and meet his counterparts from several countries.

The UN has found that the world has already missed the 2010 deadline for biodiversity conservation with potentially grave consequences, and the number of species facing extinction is growing by the day especially in developing countries.

India will host the Biodiversity Summit in 2012.

Image: Jairam Ramesh