June 20, 2012
PRESS RELEASE
VULNERABLE COUNTRIES CALL TO GLOBAL COMMUNITY: STRENGTHEN CLIMATE LANGUAGE IN RIO OUTCOME
- Ministers from Bangladesh, Costa Rica and Nepal appealed to improve on inadequate attention to climate change in the deliberation and outcomes of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio+20
- Forum of more than 20 countries pledged to show leadership on sustainable development and to follow low-carbon pathways, and called other governments to join and support the movement
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – 19 June 2012: Just as world leaders arrive at the UN Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development today, key developing countries led by Bangladesh as Chair of the Climate Vulnerable Forum, a global platform of developing countries vulnerable to climate change, called for improving the outcome text on climate change to reflect enhanced commitment during a High-Level Panel of Forum Ministers.
The Bangladesh Environment Minister HE Dr. Hasan Mahmud said:
There has been a degradation of Agenda 21 here in Rio. With only a few paragraphs, climate change is not adequately addressed. Not thousands, but millions of people are already displaced due to a loss of livelihood and now with inadequate Rio texts our GDP losses will only grow and our condition will be further aggravated. Rio should do the opposite. My call here today to the global community, as the Chair of the Forum, is simple: amplify climate change in the Rio+20 outcome texts.
HE Mr. Rene Castro, Environment Minister of Costa Rica said:
“Climate change and climate vulnerability must be prominent in the Rio Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals for them to have any chance of success.”
HE Dr. Kashab Man Shakya, Environment Minister of Nepal said:
“The climate problem is international. When the Himalaya glaciers melt, it is not just Nepal that suffers. Bangladesh also suffers and India too. Much more international collaboration is required.”
The Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh concluded by saying:
“The international community must show a firmer resolve to tackle climate change now. The earth is one but the world is not. The Forum is committed to ensuring that climate vulnerability discourse is brought into the mainstream of sustainable development. We also wish to lead by example as low-carbon pioneers. Are you all listening? Would you like to join us?”
The Panel was a part of the Climate Vulnerable Forum’s Official Side Event to the Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development, representing a wide ranging group of developing countries, each with very high stakes in the future of sustainable development under discussion at the Rio conference.
The Climate Vulnerable Forum is an international partnership of vulnerable countries from Africa, Asia, the Americas and the Pacific founded in 2009. 19 members of the Forum adopted a 14-point Ministerial Declaration in Dhaka, Bangladesh in mid-November 2011 at a meeting inaugurated by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the threshold of the UN talks in Durban. Costa Rica is incoming Chair and DARA is a key support partner.
For more information on the Forum see: www.mofa.gov.bd and www.daraint.org/cvf
The Forum also publishes with DARA the Climate Vulnerability Monitor – a global assessment of the impacts of climate change. For more information see: www.daraint.org/cvm
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