South Africa to host climate meeting

South Africa will host the 11th BASIC Ministerial climate change meeting in Johannesburg this week, featuring ministers from South Africa, India, China and Brazil.

The four countries formed the BASIC alliance before the Copenhagen summit in December 2009, with the aim of defining a collective position on climate aid money and emissions reduction.

The Environmental Affairs Department announced on Tuesday that the Johannesburg meeting will help to implement the agreement the ministers reached at the 10th Ministerial Coordination meeting in New Delhi, India in March 2012.

Pre-COP 18

COP18/CMP8 is the 18th Conference of the Parties (COP18) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and the 8th Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP8). The conference will take place in Doha, Qatar from 26 November to 7 December.

Progress in the implementation of the Durban meeting decisions is, therefore, a key necessity for the successful conclusion of the Bali Roadmap in Qatar.

 Experts and chief negotiators

The BASIC meeting will also be used to discuss implementation of the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action - decided on at COP17 - which prompted the negotiations for a post-2020 climate regime.

Their discussions will focus on the various approaches for raising ambition pre-2020 and how to find meaningful expression of equitable access to sustainable development in UNFCCC.

Several other developing countries have also been invited to the meeting, including Algeria, Gambia, Qatar, Swaziland and the South-Pacific island, Nauru.

Representing the BASIC countries will be South Africa's Water and Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa; Brazil's Vice Minister for Environment, Energy, Science and Technology in the Ministry of External Relations Ambassador Luis Alberto Figueiredo Machado; China's Vice Chairman of National Development and Reform Commission Minister Zhenhua Xie; and the additional secretary to the Government of India, Mira Mehrishi.

Image 01 - Johannesburg skyline, Mark Jelley

Image 02 - Durban beach, Steve Roetz

Image 03 - Edna Molewa, World Economic Forum