Manila-Paris Declaration of the Climate Vulnerable Forum

Manila-Paris Declaration of the Climate Vulnerable Forum

We, the Heads of State and Government and Senior Representatives of the Climate Vulnerable Forum from Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America, the Middle East, and the Pacific, representing a significant number, and a representative group, of those countries most vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change, meeting at Manila and Paris in November 2015,

Gravely concerned about the new climate reality for our vulnerable states threatened by rising sea-levels, ocean acidification, extreme events such as avalanches, landslides, floods, including glacial lake outbursts, and tropical cyclones, droughts and agricultural impacts, extreme heat and changing thermal conditions in the work place, and that additional magnitudes of warming will only increase the risk of severe, pervasive and irreversible impacts,

Emphasizing that recent science, including the Structured Expert Dialogue of the UNFCCC 2013-2015 Review sends a clear message that the current long-term temperature goal of holding global warming below 2° Celsius is inadequate and that it is essential that this target is strengthened towards a below 1.5°C goal,

Determined to seize the opportunity of the 21st Conference of Parties to the UNFCCC (COP21) to secure an ambitious, universal, legally binding, dynamic and durable international agreement that will lead to the safeguarding of our most vulnerable nations that are so gravely, and in cases existentially, imperilled by over 20 years of inadequate actions to prevent human induced climate change,

Concerned that the aggregate level of ambition in the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) submitted to the UNFCCC for consideration in the Paris agreement, to be adopted at COP 21, is not yet adequate to limit warming below 2°C, let alone return below 1.5°C by 2100, and that further substantial action will be needed to close the emission gap of 6-11 Gt C02e by 2025 and 15-20 Gt CO2e by 2030 between the INDCs aggregate level of ambition and the emission pathways consistent with limiting warming below 1.5°C,

Extending our solidarity with communities who have already suffered loss of life and impacts on health and other forms of damage and distress as a result of the failure to adequately respond to climate change,

Recognizing the fact that climate change has various manifestations of adverse impacts in the terrestrial and aquatic ecosystem, including high mountain areas and coastal regions, and calling for separate suitable strategies and approaches to tackle them under a broad global framework,

Underscoring also the need for fair and equitable financing,

Addressing the negative effects of greenhouse gases emissions by strongly encouraging developed countries to assist the most climate vulnerable developing countries, technically and financially, in utilizing renewable energy and adopting energy efficiency technologies,

Resolved to set aside all political differences, just as our countries experience the brunt of the adverse effects of climate change despite having contributed the least to the phenomenon and possessing only marginal means and direct agency to effectively address the monumental challenges its presents,

Inspired by what has already been achieved in our own and other countries notwithstanding what could have been achieved through stronger international partnership and global action at scale,

Welcoming the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which recognizes that climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time and with adverse impacts that undermine the ability of all countries to achieve sustainable development, and calls for urgent action to combat climate change while acknowledging that the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is the primary international forum for negotiating the global response to climate change,

Recalling, welcoming and noting the S.A.M.O.A. Pathway, the Istanbul Programme for Action, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, which recognizes the particular vulnerability of our member states,

Recalling resolutions of the Human Rights Council on climate change, including Resolution 29/15 that emphasizes the adverse impacts of climate change on the full and effective enjoyment of human rights, and noting in this regard the importance of facilitating meaningful interaction between the human rights and climate change communities, such as that outlined in the Geneva Pledge for Human Rights in Climate Action,

Convinced of the compatibility of the most ambitious forms of action to address climate change with the most ambitious forms of human development and poverty reduction efforts, environmental protection, and robust economic growth that are both inclusive and sustainable, and therein the largely untapped and potentially unprecedented transformational potential for climate action to provide a new opportunity to enhance the prosperity of our most vulnerable countries and of the world,

Recalling previous decisions of this Forum including our Male’ Declaration, Dhaka Declaration and Costa Rica Action Plan, through which we consistently sought to act as a driving force for international action in light of the dire climate insecurities facing our people, as well as previous calls for the need to strengthen the international goal of 2 degrees to below 1.5°C,

Recognizing that while the CVF is a non-negotiating group in the UNFCCC whose members are sovereign in pursuing their respective national positions, it nevertheless remains strongly united in ensuring global action on climate change and deeply committed to raising awareness about, and addressing the impacts of, climate change,

Taking into account the conclusions of the five regional meetings of this Forum during 2014-15 in which 50 nations participated with thanks to Costa Rica, Samoa and Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme, Ethiopia, Philippines and Lebanon, who acted as hosts of these events,

Recalling the establishment of the Forum’s Vulnerable Twenty (V20) Group Finance Ministers in Lima, Peru, in October 2015, which aims, among others, to enable the CVF member states to steer a high-level policy dialogue pertaining to action on climate change and the promotion of climate resilient and low emission development,

Unwavering, move united, seeking to steer to a world with prosperity and peace, enjoyment of fundamental human rights, a healthy population and environment, just as failure endangers all of these, now and in the future,

OUR KEY PRIORITIES FOR THE PARIS AGREEMENT

Long-Term Goal

1. We urge the UNFCCC Conference of Parties to heed the 2013-2015 Review into the adequacy of the current long-term temperature goal of holding global warming below a 2 degrees Celsius increase above preindustrial levels, inclusive of the Structured Expert Dialogues and Lima-invited submissions of parties, and insist that immediate measures to strengthen the goal to the below 1.5 degrees Celsius target are indispensable to the integrity of the ultimate objective of the UNFCCC, the survival of a number of our nations, and the prosperity of our populations, people everywhere, and the world. We also draw attention to our #1o5C campaign and call on all nations to seize the COP21 opportunity for a climate-secure framework that keeps warming below 1.5°C.

The agreement being negotiated for adoption in Paris at COP21 must require no back-sliding and a progression of commitments to avoid developments regressive towards achieving the long-term goal and a mandated track to close ambition gaps should complete its first cycle of work prior to 2020 and encompass adaptation, mitigation and means of implementation. To ensure aggregate national mitigation contributions are scientifically consistent with a strengthened long-term goal, such a mandated track should accomplish its work at minimum prior to the conclusion of each period of five years, consisting of expert-informed state cooperation, dialogue and negotiation to close any remaining gaps between aggregate actions, recognizing that delayed action increases the costs of addressing climate change, reduces access to climate action co-benefits, further imperils our most vulnerable countries and the world, and will require a parallel reassessment of implications for adaptation and loss and damage, finance, technology and capacity building and the requirements of contingency measures and heightened subsequent efforts on all fronts. A mitigation goal consistent with below 1.5°C should be included in the Paris agreement and include full decarbonisation by 2050 with the peaking of global GHG emissions as soon as possible, and at the latest by 2020, and 100% renewable energy production by 2050.

Critical specifics of the new Paris agreement to fulfil these considerations include:

a. A specific long-term temperature goal in the agreement to hold the increase in global average temperature to below 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by 2100;
b. Reference in the mitigation section of the agreement to global greenhouse gas emission reductions of at least 70-95 per cent below 2010 levels that are needed by 2050 and zero global greenhouse gas emissions that are needed by mid-century (2060-2080) for consistency with the 1.5°C goal;
c. All parties contributing to climate action with major emitters taking on legally-binding mitigation commitments;
d. Establishment of successive 5-year commitment cycle that will review and ramp up ambition, regularly informed by the latest science; 
e. Provisions in the Paris Agreement that aim at rapidly scaling up additional and predictable means of implementation including capacity-building and technology transfer and financial resources to support developing countries’ mitigation, adaptation action, and loss and damage. Developed country Parties must continue to take the lead in providing this financial support, from the floor of 100bn per year to be reached latest in 2020;
f. A commitment by all Parties to catalysing low-emission and climate resilient investments at domestic and international levels with a view to eliminating high-carbon investments and harmful subsidies, including through enhancing enabling environments both at the international and national levels so as to decarbonise the global economy rapidly.

Adaptation

2. Adaptation needs are inseparable from the long-term goal. The approximately 3-degrees of warming that current commitments have the world on track for will require enormous adaptation efforts compared with current needs. Holding the rise in temperatures below 1.5°C reduces adaptation costs significantly even if major additional efforts are already required simply to manage impacts associated with the current 0.75-0.85°C degrees of warming.

Developing countries are already leading the design of adaptation plans as reflected in the INDCs submitted in 2015. The Paris agreement can make a difference on the ground if it supports the implementation of these proactive adaptation actions, and further efforts to lead by example.

Loss and Damage

3. Insufficient responses to climate change whether mitigation, adaptation, finance, capacity building, technology transfer or otherwise do result in significant unavoidable losses and damages every day, both of an economic and non-economic nature, with these increasing in tandem with additional warming. The continuation and strengthening of the UNFCCC’s work on loss and damage, appropriately integrated within the Paris agreement, is therefore fundamentally important and is also useful for informing and galvanizing response decisions, particularly on mitigation and adaptation, to promote understanding of community challenges and needs of vulnerable populations, and to establish options for compensating affected populations, which should be measured with a human rights-based approach.

International efforts for addressing loss and damage should encompass to:

a. Confirm an international mechanism to address loss and damage, building on the Warsaw International Mechanism on Loss and Damage;
b. Establish a climate change displacement coordination facility to help coordinate efforts to address the displacement of people as a result of the extreme events as well as slow onset impacts of climate change;
c. Initiate a process to address losses and damages from climate change including raising financing for loss and damage.

OUR COMMITTMENTS

Our Commitments to Climate Action

4. In light of current emission commitments of parties to the UNFCCC amounting to approximately 3°C of warming, we agreed to strengthen our own national climate actions in order to: lead processes to help trigger increased commitments from all countries for urgent progress towards the goal of below 1.5°C. We recognize that our INDCs towards achieving the UNFCCC objective of preventing dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system are the appropriate means to convey any upscaled commitments and emphasized that additional enabling support on means of implementation would be indispensable to any upscaled mitigation action by CVF countries;

Adopt climate actions at the national, regional and global levels, in accordance with national priorities and challenges, to effectively address all aspects of climate change, i.e. mitigation and adaptation; and calling for adequate support to the CVF countries in terms of finance, capacity building and technology development and transfer;

Pursue sustainable development strategies and actions now that will move toward climate-resilient pathways while at the same time help to improve livelihoods, social development, and economic well-being, especially for communities most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change;

Building on existing actions by national and local government and civil society, commit to continue support to communities most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change through increased Community Based Adaptation.

Our Commitments to Finance

5. Commit, following the establishment of the Vulnerable Twenty (V20) group, to the continuation of this process of regular dedicated bi-annual climate change focused meetings of the Ministers of Finance of our countries at the annual sessions of the World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund, to the V20 Action Plan and Working Group, and to act collectively and decisively to:

a. Promote the mobilization of public and private climate finance from wide ranging sources, including international, regional and domestic mobilization;

b. Share and exchange best practices on economic and financial aspects of climate action; and,

c. Develop and implement new, improved and innovative approaches; and engage in advocacy and other joint actions.

Our Commitments to South-South Cooperation, Capacity Building and Technology Transfer & Development

6. Commit to maximizing potential that already exists at the hands of our own vulnerable countries and can be released through greater South-South and regional cooperation by agreeing to take these efforts to a higher, more systematic level through the forthcoming establishment of this body’s new inter-agency South-South Centre for Excellence on Climate Information and Services to be based at Manila, Philippines, which is hereby mandated to:

a. Share expertise among, build capacity of, and, promote cooperation between, national and regional institutions of the member countries of this Forum active in responding to climate change, supporting greater cooperation and collaboration among our countries;

b. Develop and disseminate and ensure effective use of new climate information and knowledge products by users critical to effective responses to climate change in accordance with Forum priorities.

INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

7. We urge the international community, and in particular higher capacity countries who have more influence on the state of our climate, to seize this opportunity for a new approach to collaborative and transboundary climate action to support our climate agenda by upscaling the existing contributions towards the new global climate change regime, as well as other forms of assistance for the realization of these our aspirations, priorities and interests as outlined in this Declaration.

FURTHER CLIMATE PRIORITIES

8. In accordance with the climate survival and prosperity agenda of this Forum, we additionally call on parties to the UNFCCC Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action, on COP21, and on other relevant UNFCCC provisions, bodies and mechanisms, to further provide for:

a. Financing access and balance –

Increasing the speed and efficiency by which scarce resources to support urgent national climate change priorities and concerns can be accessed, free of conditionality and facilitated through direct access, including via the Green Climate Fund;

Accelerated progress towards achieving an even 50:50 allocation for all international climate change finance between adaptation and mitigation, with achievement of a clear balance by 2020 at the latest;

b. Climate governance and coordination capacity building –

Reinforcing institutional and human capacities for managing national responses to climate change, in particular for planning, programming and reporting for the UNFCCC and on implementation of internationally funded climate change activities, and for coordination of actions horizontally across government sectors and vertically at different levels, including national, regional, municipal and community levels;

c. Enabling the private sector –

While acknowledging the principal role of public finance, encouraging and supporting all countries to provide more effective enabling conditions to unlock the full potential of the private sector to contribute to adaptation and mitigation so essential to amplifying the impact of government climate change policies, including through public-private partnerships; also underscoring that critical to such engagement is to ensure the nature of predictability of private finance;

d. Boosting local research capacities –

Increasing the level of capacity of climate change focused research and knowledge-based institutions at regional and national levels in order to ensure locally informed policy-making capacity and resources to stimulate greater and more effective climate action;

e. Raising awareness levels in partnership with civil society –

Promoting greater awareness of the risks of climate change and the opportunities and benefits of urgent and effective climate action at different levels, including among communities, the general public, and different sectors of government and the economy, including in partnership with civil society and through an enhanced role of the media;

f. Integrating climate change into development –

In the context of development achievements regressing due to the additional externality of climate change and inadequate global climate action, integrating responses to climate change as central to all aspects of sustainable development including all key sectors of economic, human and social development efforts to accelerate progress towards climate smart and environmentally sound industrial development and prosperity and by internalizing climate change by sector through a sound understanding of climate impacts and risks associated with different sectors;

Focus on fostering reforms conducive to effective climate action, resiliency and sustainability across sectors, including through incentives and regulations to promote smart agriculture, improvement of water management and infrastructure, disaster management and public health, among others, for accelerated poverty reduction that enables communities to better withstand changes and diversified income generating opportunities
for reduced climate-affected resource-dependency;

g. Technology exchange, transfer and development –

Addressing the major imbalance of availability of existing technological means and expertise that could provide grounds for much expanded and mutually beneficial climate action worldwide through significantly accelerated progress towards realizing steady transfers and exchanges of technology, North-South and South-South, and by stimulating efforts for the technology development activities of developing countries.

Other Focus Sectors

9. Decide to collaborate for further progress in the development at international level of enhanced responses to climate change, to catalyse action by the international community, and promote and deploy programmatic responses with respect to the following sectors independent of and in complement to the UNFCCC and its role as the primary fora for the international response to climate change as a continuation of the Costa Rica Action Plan’s focus on health, human rights, labour, migration/displacement and science, while expanding our focus to the following new domains: agriculture, education, gender, tourism and water. Agree to establish one or more task forces/committees to take forward the work in these priority areas outlined.

ROAD MAP

10. Decide to pursue the activities as contained in the 2016-18 Road Map annexed to this Declaration.

MEMBERSHIP

11. Confirm all new states endorsing this Declaration as member states of this Forum and invite other most vulnerable developing countries to endorse this Declaration and join in our Forum in accordance with the body’s Operational Modalities.

PRESIDENCY & TROIKA

12. Express deep appreciation to Philippines for its leadership of the Forum process and hosting of the Manila meeting and to Costa Rica, the previous Chair, and Bangladesh, the other member of Troika coordination hub, and convey full support to the Forum presidency and members of the Troika as they strive to represent and advance our common interests.

13. Confirm the Ethiopia as the Forum’s next Chair for the 2016-17 period.

RESOURCING

14. Further to recent changes in the United Nations Development Group guidance for trust funds of critical importance to CVF resourcing, endorse the guidance on capitalization of the Forum’s Trust Fund annexed to this Declaration, while extending deep appreciation and recognition to all members and other donors that have supported this body’s Trust Fund, initiated through a special financial contribution from Bangladesh, acting then in its capacity as Chair, and to the United Nations Development Programme for administering the instrument, while inviting and encouraging further contributions to the Fund.

15. Instruct the ad hoc Secretariat to design a strategy for fundraising to present for consideration, endorsement and implementation by the CVF members in order to enable each country to effectively interact with donors and funding institutions at bilateral and multilateral levels in order to build stronger and more sustainable funding partnerships for the Forum’s work and Trust Fund.

PARTNERSHIP

16. Building on extensive collaborations already undertaken with a wide variety of actors, we intend to further expand on the Forum’s partnership working with states, international organizations, civil society, business, academia and scientific research institutions, faith-based groups, youth, and other stakeholders committed to achieving progress in addressing global climate change and supporting countries most vulnerable to its effects, including through dedicated interactions with this Forum.

ADOPTED

At Manila on 10 November and at Paris on 30 November 2015

Members

[Member states]

Annex

AGREED DOCUMENTS

2016-18 Road Map of the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF/2015/1.1), Manila, November 2015
Guidance for capitalization of the Climate Vulnerable Forum Trust Fund (CVF/2015/1.2), Manila, November 2015
V20 Communiqué and Design Document, Lima, Peru, October 2015
Costa Rica Action Plan of the Climate Vulnerable Forum, 2013-2015, Warsaw, November 2013
Dhaka Declaration of the Climate Vulnerable Forum, Dhaka, November 2011
Male’ Declaration of the Climate Vulnerable Forum, Male’, November 2009

SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS

Discussion Note on Shared Interests across Climate Vulnerable Forum Regional Meetings 2014-2015
Draft Elements for a Post-2015 CVF Road Map
Outcomes of the 2014-15 Regional Meetings:
1. Central America/Caribbean (host: Costa Rica, 23-24 April 2014)
2. Pacific (hosts: Samoa and the Secretariat for the Pacific Regional Environment Programme, 26-27 February 2015)
3. Sub-Saharan Africa (host: Ethiopia, 7-8 May 2015)
4. Asia (host: Philippines, 20-21 May 2015)
5. Middle East & North Africa (host: Lebanon, 28-29 May 2015)
CVF Submission to the UNFCCC 2013-2015 Review (May 2015)
Inception Report: Climate Vulnerability Monitor, Third Edition (May 2014)
2013 Consolidated Annual Progress Report on Activities Implemented under the Climate Vulnerable Forum Trust Fund (May 2015)
2014 Consolidated Annual Progress Report on Activities Implemented under the Climate Vulnerable Forum Trust Fund (May 2014)
Climate Vulnerable Forum Trust Fund Programme Framework (September 2012)
2014-2016 Strategy of the Climate Vulnerable Forum Trust Fund (July 2014)
Geneva Pledge on Human Rights in Climate Action (February 2015)