There has been a degradation of Agenda 21 here in Rio,” said Bangladesh Environment Minister Dr. Hasan Mahmud. “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 … 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,” Mahmud said.

Ministers from Costa Rica and Nepal joined the appeal and are spearheading a forum of more than 2o countries pledging to show leadership on sustainable development and to follow low-carbon pathways. They want other governments to join and support the movement at the Rio+20 talks.

“Climate change and climate vulnerability must be prominent in the Rio Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals for them to have any chance of success,” said Costa Rica Environment Minister Rene Castro.

“The climate problem is international. When the Himalaya glaciers melt, it is not just Nepal that suffers,” said Nepal environment minister Dr. Kashab Man Shakya. “Bangladesh also suffers and India too. Much more international collaboration is required.”

“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 international community must show a firmer resolve to tackle climate change now,” said Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Dr. Dipu Moni. “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 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.

Nineteen 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