H.E SABER CHOWDHURY – Conclusion CVF Global Parliamentarians Meeting

Conclusion Moderation Statement

by

H.E SABER CHOWDHURY – CVF Global Parliamentarians Meeting, MP, Honorary IPU President and Chair, Bangladesh Parliamentary Committee on the Environment, Forest and Climate Change

CVF Global Parliamentarians Meeting

“Parliamentarians of Climate Threatened Nations Championing Planetary Prosperity”

November 25, 2020

We are now well over time, but I would like to move quickly. As you were all speaking, I was trying to make some notes in terms of what would be the conclusions of this very important first meeting of the parliamentarians of the CVF. 

I would like to summarize a few key points that emerged from the discussion.

Firstly, we do have options and we do have a role to play in terms of parliamentary action even during the remainder of this year. Martin pointed out that it’s only weeks to go, but as we see every day, even a week is a long time in politics, so let’s make use of the time that we have in hand. We can pass resolutions, we can adopt the motions that we talked about and that we have heard of from our CVF parliamentary champions in that regard. We can also call on our partner governments around the world to be part of the effort take greater action during the remainder of the weeks of 2020 and well before the 31st.

Secondly, we have a lot to learn from and share with each other as we push towards tackling this climate crisis from its very frontlines – because we really are at the frontlines of climate change. We are eager and ready to work with one another – I think there’s a lot of solidarity, there’s a lot of goodwill – and so we should begin work on developing a CVF parliaments group or union or league that can be launched next year. I think that is an excellent suggestion and we should start to work on that.

Thirdly, as we start to work together more intensively as parliaments sharing experiences, practices and expertise to move faster, we can aspire to achieving planetary climate prosperity. I think this point is very important: we all know that climate change is an existential crisis; but out of that crisis, out of this challenge comes opportunity, and we as parliamentarians can certainly look at the positives of what is otherwise a rather dismal situation. So, I think that climate prosperity plans must be something that we look at: how can we be more resilient, how can we be less disaster-prone, how can we improve our governance, how we can mitigate risk. We want to grow jobs, we want to provide employment especially for our young population, we want to acquire new and cutting-edge technologies, we want to secure investments, and we want usher in a great new world, because this is what the SDGs are about: transforming where we are today and where we want to go to in the future.

Fourthly, the role of parliaments is particularly vital at this time of special intervention of government into society in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our economies and communities are in crisis. Especially in the climate vulnerable nations, we have been experiencing incredible concurrent impacts and disasters. It’s not just one, it’s a multiplicity of disasters all happening at the same time. So we have to work carefully through this period, taking the opportunity that extraordinary governments measures keep us moving forward in the right direction, to reduce future risks of different kinds – public health, climate and otherwise.

Finally, we have shared principles for locally led adaptation action. This is one of the most urgent policy areas for the CVF. I think it is clear that as parliaments we are about the representation of our communities – the representation aspect is very important in the public laws, regulations and responses that will come to affect the constituents that we represent. Likewise, we are about action within the communities we represent, and about ensuring our constituencies are effectively supported. I therefore encourage you all to look into all of these principles and to consider them CVF principles for helping to drive efforts to protect our communities from climate consequences.

Ladies and gentlemen, fellow parliamentarians,

In closing, I would like to thank all of our partners: the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the Global Center on Adaptation, the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, and our fellow CVF parliaments and parliamentarians around the world. SDG goal 17 is about partnerships, not just globally, but also locally, nationally and regionally, and amongst institutions.

We will be sharing the outcome of the meeting shortly with all participants.

Thank you. 

H.E Saber Chowdhury Conclusion Statement – PDF