Dhaka-Glasgow Declaration of the CVF

DHAKA-GLASGOW DECLARATION OF THE CLIMATE VULNERABLE FORUM

Adopted

2 November 2021

We, Heads of State and Government, and high representatives, of the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) from Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America, the Middle East, and the Pacific, and forming a significant number, and a representative group, of those countries most vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change, meeting in-person and virtually, as convened from Dhaka, and in Glasgow during the World Leaders Summit of UNFCCC COP26, in October and November 2021,

Alarmed at the recent findings of the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment report (AR6) which confirmed that the warming of the climate system is accelerating with the world on track to reach 1.5ºC as early as 2030, with certain adverse impacts of climate change, such as extreme heat spells, set to nearly double in scale by then compared to impacts at 1ºC, as society now finds itself firmly within an escalating climate emergency,

Further alarmed at the conclusions of the UNFCCC Secretariat’s 2021 reports on Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement, wherein a large number of parties to the Agreement, including a number of major emitting countries, failed to comply with the Agreement by updating or renewing enhanced NDCs, and whereby a major shortfall in contributions to limiting warming to 1.5ºC prevails, though highlighting that the 1.5ºC goal can still be kept alive if 2030 emissions are 45% below their 2010 levels, which requires drastic, constant and urgent ambition raising especially of major emitting countries prior to 2030,

All the more alarmed by reports of the unmet UNFCCC collective climate finance commitment of the developed countries to mobilize $100 billion in annual, additional climate finance, with balanced funding for adaptation and mitigation, from 2020, and the threat that this default poses for confidence in the Paris climate regime in addition to weakening support for climate action by developing countries and our member states,

Recalling the urgent need for the transfer of green and clean technologies from developed to developing countries in order to effectively respond to climate change and resource priorities to implement climate change objectives and socio-economic development for a post-COVID-19 recovery,

Recalling and reaffirming our commitments, as outlined in our previous declarations, notably our 2018 Virtual Summit Leaders’ Communique, the Climate Vulnerables’ Finance Summit Communique, and the CVF Vision, in addition to the Climate Vulnerables’ Manifesto for COP26, adopted by the founding members of the CVF Climate Survival Leadership Group for COP26 in September 2021,

Recalling that, although we are not historically responsible for climate change, it is important the international community, and especially major carbon emitting countries, respond to the needs of the developing countries most vulnerable to climate change, members of the CVF, and appreciate that we are part of the solution: We have consistently demonstrated that within our countries can be found the answers and opportunities to the global climate problem,

Emboldened by progress in the implementation of this Manifesto through the holding in-person of COP26 as the most important meeting for the future of the planet, in addition to the establishment of a new Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change at the 48th session of the UN Human Rights Council, and the establishment of an IUCN Climate Crisis Commission at the September 2021 World Conservation Congress at Marseille, in a clear signal from the international community that the impact of climate change is both a human rights and an ecological crisis that we must respond to, including by leveraging and creating synergies between climate change and biological diversity,

Building on the outcome ministerial communiques of four of our Forum’s regional dialogues in which 56 nations participated with thanks to Bangladesh in its role as Forum chair, and to Costa Rica, Ethiopia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Philippines, as co-hosts of these dialogues,

Charged the international community to respond proportionately to the unprecedented global injustice of the climate crisis, which now imminently threatens the safety and in cases the viability or very existence of a number of our most vulnerable and least responsible nations, through redoubled efforts during this decade to keep the 1.5ºC limit on warming within reach, deliver and work to upscale and improve promised climate finance, to accelerate adaptation, to promote gender-based and socially inclusive action, and to ensure the necessary life- and livelihood- preserving support for loss and damage of the most vulnerable,

Moved unitedly, compelled to act in the interests of our very survival, for younger and future generations, and for the preservation of Mother Earth^[1]:

OUR KEY PRIORITIES FOR COP26

We urged UNFCCC COP26 in Glasgow to:

1. Climate Emergency Pact

Deliver a “Climate Emergency Pact” to rebuild confidence in international climate cooperation, accelerate adaptation and to keep 1.5ºC within reach, including:

• 2020-24 Climate Finance Delivery Plan

A Delivery Plan for the annual $100 billion in climate finance from developed countries over the period 2020-2024 totaling $500 billion in additional finance to Official Development Assistance commitments in support of climate action by developing countries inclusive through Paris Agreement NDCs and National Adaptation Plans and Communications with a 50:50 split of funds between adaptation and mitigation, and independent annual monitoring of implementation involving the IMF. We, furthermore, call on the COP26 Presidency of the United Kingdom to take full responsibility for the development of the Delivery Plan so vital to re-establishing confidence in the Paris Agreement and for supporting urgent climate action by developing nations.

• Annual 2030 Ambition Raising Platforms

Annual 2030 Ambition Raising platforms mandated for every single COP yearly until 2025, where all governments but especially the major emitting countries are urged to come forward with new ambition on adaptation and mitigation, over and above their current NDCs, and through further development of National Adaptation Plans and Communications and full implementation of adaptation and mitigation actions of the Paris Agreement. Out of time, the world’s governments and especially the major emitters have no choice but to work year-in year-out to constantly raise ambition to accelerate adaptation to keep people safe and 1.5ºC within reach. Transparency can also be improved through universal, best-practice use of common tabular formats and capacity building on monitoring, reporting and verification systems, while streamlined reporting of additional commitments under annual ambition platforms could facilitate the ambition-raising process.

In addition, we outlined further key priorities for COP26, as follows:

2. Loss & Damage

COP26 must achieve substantial progress on loss and damage including by operationalizing the Santiago Network on Loss and Damage in addition to executing existing commitments to the Warsaw International Mechanism, and mandating work for financing options to increase the level of support to developing countries particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change, and most vulnerable communities, in order to avert, minimize and address the loss and damage that otherwise destroys lives, livelihoods, and communities on the frontlines of this global crisis. COP26 needs to place a higher level of prioritization on loss and damage, and we call for loss and damage to be devoted the necessary discussion space as part of the COP/CMA agenda as a standing item.

3. Robust Carbon Markets

Finalized, robust carbon market mechanisms consistent with limiting warming to 1.5ºC and providing at least 5% of proceeds for financing to supplement other available funding in support of the urgent adaptation needs of the most vulnerable nations.

4. Accelerating Adaptation

The full substantiation and operationalization of the Paris Agreement Global Goal on Adaptation to be supported by increased financing for adaptation in addition to other enhanced means of implementation including technology transfer and development and capacity building. Development partners should ensure that adaptation initiatives become part and parcel of resilience development. Bold efforts to accelerate adaptation drawing on the template of major initiatives such as the Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program are urgently needed in every region, including to support locally-led community action and to empower the most vulnerable communities.

5. New & Improved Climate Finance

Beyond a Delivery Plan for the $100 billion of annual balanced climate finance, climate finance effectiveness has far to go. Access to climate finance should be streamlined and facilitated particularly for vulnerable developing countries. The so far weakly capitalized key UNFCCC financing mechanisms of the Adaptation Fund, Global Environment Facility (GEF) and Green Climate Fund (GCF) must be significantly strengthened in future. Adaptation funds must reach the most vulnerable nations and communities with formal decision making within the GEF, GCF and regional and international multilateral development banks integrating vulnerability criteria. Amid a worsening debt crisis compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, climate finance must also reverse the otherwise increasing share of climate finance as loans, and a decreasing share of grants, helping to lessen and not worsen our debt burden, and free up the necessary fiscal space for ambitious climate action. We, furthermore, urged the launch of an Emergency Coalition for Climate Resilient Debt Restructuring to harness debt servicing payments to ensure existing infrastructure of fiscally constrained vulnerable nations is rendered climate resilient and consistent with a rapid transition to 100% renewable energy, avoiding financial losses for all concerned.

6. Shifting Trillions

Vulnerable developing countries need trillions not billions of dollars of investment to underpin and secure a climate resilient and zero carbon future. Urgent work and progress is therefore needed to conclude a new annual climate finance goal of developed countries from a floor of $100 billion from 2025 that takes account of the greater ambition demanded of all countries in both mitigation and adaptation, as well as ensuring more comprehensive financial support given the growing scope of climate effects such as for the World Ocean.

FURTHER CLIMATE MEASURES

Climate action must happen beyond the UNFCCC to complement it and the Paris Agreement’s primary responsibility for arresting dangerous climate change, in which respect we particularly supported the following further key actions:

7. Maritime Emissions: We recognize the critical importance of shipping to our states and to prioritize and support all efforts to advocate for this sector. We call upon further urgent discussion, study and work of the IMO for establishing a mandatory GHG levy on international shipping to ensure that IMO emission measures are fully aligned with a 1.5ºC pathway following IPCC AR6. We recognize the need for the shipping transition to next generation vessels and fuels to be equitable and benefit all states. We support that the majority of the levy’s revenues be employed as additional financial support for urgent climate actions, particularly by the vulnerable developing countries. We urge members to consider adopting ambitious targets in domestic maritime emissions for a transition to zero emissions that leaves no one behind.

8. Maritime Zones: We call on all States to support the principles outlined in the Pacific Islands Forum 2021 Declaration on Preserving Maritime Zones in the face of Climate Change-related Sea-level rise, in a plea to authorities at all levels to support the protection and preservation of maritime zones from the threats of climate change. The Declaration preserves maritime zones in the face of their erosion due to the detrimental effects of climate change-driven sea-level rise on territorial integrity, while upholding the centrality of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

9. Oceans and Seas: We reaffirm the importance of sustainable management, use and conservation of the World Ocean and call upon the UNFCCC and COP26 to establish a mandated process to incorporate oceans into the UNFCCC agenda and for increased investment for the establishment of observation systems, to understand impacts of climate change on the Ocean, blue carbon protection and restoration initiatives for climate mitigation and adaptation, as well as monitoring and prediction to strengthen natural disaster response and risk reduction strategies particularly for small islands.

10. Renewable Energy Transition: We call on all donors and multilateral and regional financing institutions, and the private sector, to support a rapid acceleration of the transition away from coal aided by adequate financing for comparable renewable energy capacity. This redoubling of efforts to finance renewable energy would support the call of the United Nations Secretary-General for an end to the international financing of coal.

11. Displacement and Migration: Urgently scaled up capacity, finance, technology and other support to reduce disaster displacement and ensure greater support for adaptation and to safeguard and promote local jobs and livelihoods to limit the adverse impact of climate change as a driver of migration. Where displacement and migration driven by climate change is unavoidable, we call on international support to assist and protect the growing number of climate displaced persons and migrants.

12. Workers and Jobs: Further scaled up capacity, finance, technology and other support to greatly enhance the protection of workers in regions most exposed to dangerous levels of extreme heat, rapid and slow onset disasters, and other impacts caused by climate change. We also call for a prioritization of support for reskilling and up-skilling of workers and social safety net support to enable a just transition and promote green jobs, particularly through women’s and youth empowerment, as we pursue low-carbon and carbon neutral development under the Paris Agreement.

FORUM BUSINESS

We further elaborated our own program of activities with the following steps:

Climate Prosperity Plans

1. Following the adoption by Bangladesh of its “Mujib Climate Prosperity Plan”, named in honour of the Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, we recognized the interest of the following countries to develop their own national Climate Prosperity Plans in order to chart and implement strategic investment pathways to deliver robust socio-economic development by fully implementing with maximum ambition regarding climate adaptation and mitigation efforts, in accelerated promotion of prosperity:

Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Cambodia, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Fiji, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea, Haiti, Kiribati, Lebanon, Liberia, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Morocco, Mozambique, Nepal, Nicaragua, Palau, Palestine, Philippines, Rwanda, Samoa, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Tunisia, Uganda and Vanuatu.

We likewise called upon the international community, and on technical agencies, donors and the private sector, to collaborate actively in the development and realization of CVF members’ Climate Prosperity Plans, and the mobilization of the necessary financing for their delivery, while emphasizing the collective economic cooperation opportunity of successfully implementing these plans.

Membership

2. We confirmed the following nations as incoming members of our Forum: Benin, Eswatini, Guinea, Guyana, Liberia, Nicaragua and Uganda.

Forum Offices

3. We confirmed in Ghana the next presidency of this Forum for the 2022-24 period.
4. We expressed sincere appreciation for the leadership of Bangladesh as president of the CVF and to H.E. Sheikh Hasina, Honorable Prime Minister of Bangladesh, the CVF Chair, in addition to the work of Ethiopia and the Marshall Islands in the CVF Troika.
5. We reaffirmed the role of the Global Center on Adaptation, named in November 2018 as Managing Partner of support to the CVF and V20, and host of the CVF and V20 secretariat, and expressed thanks to the secretariat team for their support to the Forum.
6. We also welcomed and express thanks for all the work of the five CVF Thematic Ambassadors for Ambition (Mohamed Nasheed), Culture (Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner), Parliaments (Loren Legarda), Renewable Energy (Tosi Mpanu Mpanu), and Vulnerability (Saima Wazed) to advance the causes and initiatives of the CVF.
7. We welcomed the establishment of the CVF Global Parliamentary Group on 26 October 2021 and encouraged the active engagement of the parliamentarians of all CVF members in the CVF Global Parliamentary Group in order to benefit from the exchange of legislative good practices and to enhance international engagement and cooperation on climate action with the legislative bodies of major economies.

Publications

8. Giving consideration to the Framework Report for a third ‘Climate Vulnerability Monitor’, we commissioned this important project of assessment into the global impact of climate change.
9. We likewise encouraged further iterations of the CVF’s ‘Low Carbon Monitor’ project.

Resourcing

10. We encouraged interested donors and members to consider strengthening the CVF & V20 Joint Multi-Donor Fund which finances the activities and priorities of the Forum through direct and indirect financial contributions.

Next Meeting

11. We agreed to reconvene at Dhaka, Bangladesh, in 2022, in order to conclude an implementation plan for the present Declaration.

Developed at Dhaka on 19 October 2021 and adopted at Glasgow on 2 November 2021

^[1] As a common expression in a number of countries and regions.

Member states of the CVF:

Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Barbados, Benin, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Colombia, Comoros, Costa Rica, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominican Republic, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Fiji, the Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Kenya, Kiribati, Lebanon, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Mongolia, Morocco, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, Palau, Palestine, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Rwanda, Samoa, Saint Lucia, Senegal, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Tunisia, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Viet Nam, Yemen.

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Dhaka-Glasgow Declaration of the Climate Vulnerable Forum