Paris: South Africa reacted acidly to President George W Bush's plan on climate change, lashing it as a retreat from previous US positions that would leave the United States "alone against the overwhelming majority of the world."

In a statement issued in Paris yesterday, where he was to attend a two-day meeting of major carbon emitters, Environment and Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk said Bush s speech was "particularly disappointing." "It seems as if the current US administration wants to turn back the clock to where we were before the breakthrough achieved in Bali in December 2007,when all countries, including the United States, agreed to a Bali Roadmap that outlines the negotiation process and building blocks for a strengthened climate agreement," said Schalkwyk.

The Bali Roadmap set down by the 190-country UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) aims at agreeing on a pact for deepening cuts in greenhouse gases blamed for disrupting Earth's climate system. The deal would be completed by the end of 2009 and take effect from the end of 2012,when current pledges under the UNFCCC's Kyoto Protocol expire.

In 2001,Bush abandoned Kyoto, saying it was too costly for the oil-dependent US economy and its format was unfair, as only rich countries and not emerging giants such as India and China  had to sign up to legally binding emissions targets. Yesterday, Bush called for the growth in US greenhouse gas emissions to be stopped by 2025,although his speech was short on specifics on how to achieve these targets and mentioned no legal curbs for forcing industry to meet this goal.

Source : PTI