India and three other emerging economies today said the world cannot wait indefinitely for the US to pass a domestic legislation and asked the rich countries to take increased level of emission cuts so that a legally-binding treaty can be inked latest by 2011. During a meeting in Cape Town, the environment ministers of BASIC group comprising of India, China, Brazil and South Africa favoured global legally binding agreements, saying its absence would hurt the developing nations more than the rich countries.A joint statement issued by the bloc after the meeting in which India was represented by Enviornment Minister Jairam Ramesh said, the emphasis on equity as a decisive factor for reaching any climate agreement suggests the BASIC nations determination to not to dilute Kyoto Protocol and take up any binding emission cut as have been sought by the developed nations.The Kyoto Protocol which expires in 2012 seeks binding emission cut targets for industrialised nations while developing countries like China and India have to take voluntary actions to tackle climate change. The ministers noted that internationally binding legal pacts already exists in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its Kyoto Protocol and they were already taking ambitious nationally appropriate mitigation actions (NAMA), as announced in Copenhagen in last December. The ministers reiterated that it would be impossible for the developing nations to implement mitigation actions in the absence of promised fund by developed countries. They agreed that in accordance with the mandate of the Bali Roadmap, such pacts must follow two tracks to include a pact on quantified emission reduction targets under a second commitment period for Annex I Parties (rich nations) under the Kyoto Protocol, as well as a legally binding pact on long-term cooperative action under the Convention. Building on the discussion held in New Delhi in January, the ministers elaborated areas in which progress could be made in the run-up to Cancun climate meet in Mexico this year-end, including the early flow of fast-start finance of the USD 10 billion in 2010 pledged by developed countries.