STATEMENT BY INTERNATIONAL CO-ORDINATOR MR. GAURI PRADHAN AT THE MINISTERIAL MEETING ON FINANCING CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION IN LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES (LDCs),
6 December 2015, COP21/CMP11 in Paris, France
Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,
Thank you for inviting me to speak on behalf of LDC Watch, and for bringing the civil society voice of the most vulnerable to this ministerial meeting.
It’s an obvious reality today that climate change is a major threat to the development of LDCs and their efforts towards the achievement of the Istanbul Programme of Action and sustainable development goals. This calls for immediate and easily accessible climate finance for LDCs.
However, as we all know the delivery of finance to LDCs has not been adequate, new, additional, predictable, and sustainable to build capacities of communities to adapt to the daily effects of climate change.
As you are aware, we are the least responsible for this climate crisis but ironically the most impacted. So it’s a matter of Climate Justice! We no longer want only pledges and false promises when it’s a matter of survival for us. The commitment to fully implement our National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPAs) was made 10 years ago in Marrakesh and we’re still not enough seeing money on the table. The pledge of $ 248 million at the outset of this conference is just a drop in the ocean as already reacted by LDCs.
Climate finance has to be public in the form of grants, no more debt-creating loans when we are already heavily burdened with the debt crisis. We cannot afford to receive more loans and going by the principle of equity, it’s completely unacceptable that the least responsible should pay such a double price.
It is imperative that climate finance directly reaches our communities and empowers them to build their adaptive capacity and resilience. As a result, civil society engagement in this regard is crucial at all stages of planning, implementation, and monitoring of adaptation actions. Hence, we also call upon LDC governments to improve their institutional and human development capacity, level of transparency, and disbursement of funds in order to effectively implement the NAPAs.
Lastly, we would like to highlight that realities in LDCs today are beyond adaptation. We, therefore, should also be preparing to address loss and damage which adds to the development challenges in LDCs.
It’s high time for action. Together we fight, together we win.
Thank you.
(File) LDC Watch Statement at COP21 – 16 kB (File Size)
