Growth should take place in a way that does not harm the environment, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Monday.

During his meeting with Environment Ministers of BASIC countries — Brazil, South Africa, India and China — Dr. Singh said the principle of equity - equal per capita rights to the atmospheric space - should be the goal of future negotiations on climate change, sources said.

For the first time since the December climate change meet in Durban, environment ministers from the BASIC countries — Brazil, South Africa, India and China — will come together in New Delhi this we

Poor nations have been sparring over emission cuts without realising that the fight is a deliberate creation of rich countries

Many years ago, in a desperately poor village in Rajasthan, people decided to plant trees on the land adjoining their pond so that its catchment would be protected. But this land belonged to the revenue department and people were fined for trespass. The issue hit national headlines. The stink made the local administration uncomfortable.

The legacy of the "imperfect deal" — as it was called by all participants — at the Copenhagen climate conference two years back continued in the Durban summit last December.

NEW DELHI: Ministers of South Africa, Brazil, China and India - the BASIC group - will meet here on February 13-14 to chalk out a joint strategy for the post-2020 global climate regime.

India and France should collaborate to evolve acceptable solutions for the emission reduction regime to be adopted in 2015

Following meetings with both minister for aviation Ajit Singh and environment minister Jayanti Natarajan on the controversial carbon emissions levy that EU has introduced, Connie Hedegaard, European Union climate action commissioner, claimed the tax is inevitable “as aviation is increasing and emissions from aviation are also increasing.”

India, along with the international community, led by International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICOU), has fiercely opposed the tax introduced from January 1 with airlines accusing the EU of having taken an extra territorial decision.

In the run-up to the Rio+20 Earth Summit, India continues to emphasise the principle of equity as forming the foundation for climate change negotiations.

“I would like to reiterate that the bottom line remains equity,” said minister of environment Jayanthi Natarajan addressing a special session on Biodiversity at the 12th Delhi Sustainable Development Summit. Ms Natarajan’s statement came a day after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had endorsed her stand at the UNFCCC meet at Durban conference

NEW DELHI: In one of his most emphatic public statements reaffirming the return of 'equity' in India's climate change stance, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said global cooperation on climate change