A group of countries vulnerable to climate change has proposed a 10-point action plan to improve Asia’s response to the global issue.
The Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF), a group of 20 countries currently chaired by the Philippines, held its Asia meeting last May 20 to 21 attended by Cambodia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Tajikistan and member states Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Maldives, Philippines, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam.
The following recommendations, which was released on Wednesday during the run-up to the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, aim to improve efforts in the national, regional and global levels:
1. Strong national coordination among institutions and departments as well as vertically within national structures and at the different governance levels
2. Mobilization of community and civil society in climate action and knowledge exchange between governments, experts and communities
3. Reinforce national institutional capacity and human resources for realizing climate action
4. Increased transfer, exchange and diffusion of technologies and expertise between and among developed and developing countries and South-South
5. Enhanced balance, access to, and coordination of, international climate finance, and institutional capacity for national and international financial responses to climate change
6. Greater regional cooperation and coordination (knowledge sharing, information management, technology transfer and development, policies)
7. Promoting understanding and awareness among communities and the private sector including through an enhanced role of the media
8. Providing more effective enabling conditions for greater private sector engagement in driving climate action
9. Accelerate climate-smart industrial development essential for diversifying vulnerable sectors of economies
10. Enhanced infrastructure, research funding, and capacity for hydro-met and socio-economic data and scenarios for more accurate and robust policy-making
The recommendations will be presented in Bonn, Germany next month for the CVF’s global consultation for its roadmap.
Secretary Lucille Sering at the Asia meeting of the Climate Vulnerable Forum held in Manila. (Contributed photo)
Secretary Lucille Sering, vice chairperson of the Climate Change Commission (CCC), said it is important for vulnerable countries to work together.
“We want to improve our capacity because nobody else understands our situation more than ourselves. This is also why with Philippines as the Chair this year, we would like to push for the creation of the new South-South Centre of Excellence,” she said in a statement.
The CCC, which is under the Office of the President, organized the recent CVF meeting held in Manila.
United Nations Development Program Country Director Titon Mitra said the CVF, as well as its set of recommendations for Asia, showcased the region’s potential to link regional and global agendas “for greater impact.”
The Philippines’ chairmanship of the CVF coincides with the much anticipated COP21 in Paris, France later in the year. The COP21 hopes to clinch a legally binding agreement on climate change, specifically on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to limit the global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.