PH underscores the role of NDCs in achieving Paris climate goal

House Deputy Speaker Loren Legarda urged all countries to meet their obligations under the Paris Agreement before the year ends, at the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) Leaders’ Event hosted by the Prime Minister of Bangladesh aired on 7 October via Facebook Live at https://www.facebook.com/mofadhaka/ and the CVF website at www.thecvf.org.

Legarda, CVF Ambassador for Parliaments, called on all nations to submit updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement, at the launch of “Midnight Survival Deadline for the Climate”, an online event featuring world leaders and climate champions towards addressing the climate crisis.

Other leaders of the CVF and global climate champions also joined the event including the Prime Minister of Bangladesh and CVF Chair H.E. Sheikh Hasina; President of Marshall Islands David Kabua; UN Secretary-General António Guterres; former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon; Al Gore; Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives; and Executive Secretary of the UN Climate Change Secretariat Patricia Espinosa.

Legarda emphasized that the CVF member-countries must act collectively to raise the level of climate ambition at the global and the national scale.

“Our 48-member strong forum must forge on with the urgent call to raise the level of climate ambition at the global and the national scale… As policymakers, we can create an enabling environment for science-based policy planning and risk governance at national and sub-national levels. Let us challenge our counterparts in the executive to dramatically raise climate ambitions to our NDCs. Let us support the establishment of the global carbon market framework, [because] hard fought development gains and productivity will continue to be undermined or even reversed if the 1.5-degree global warming threshold of the Paris Agreement is breached,” said Legarda.

The Deputy Speaker, who is also a Commissioner of the Global Commission on Adaptation and UNDRR Global Champion for Resilience, also highlighted the need for inclusion of climate-resilient interventions in COVID-19 economic stimulus packages.

“I urge my fellow parliamentarians to echo our call in the Global Commission on Adaptation for world leaders to align COVID-19 responses with the long-term climate objectives of the agenda for sustainable development, the Sendai Framework for disaster risk reduction, and the Paris Agreement. Let us turn this recovery into a real opportunity to accelerate progress in seven areas namely; urban resilience; water resources management; social safety nets; food security; nature-based solutions; locally-led adaptation; and disaster reduction,” she added.

The event facilitated dialogue among legislators across the world to discuss measures to aid in the implementation of NDCs as a means to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement.

Under the Agreement, if countries fail to submit an updated NDC by the end of this year, they will not need to submit them for another 5 years. With the UN Environment Programme indicating that emissions need to fall by 7.6% each year between now and 2030 to keep the 1.5 degrees Celsius goal within reach, missing the 2020 midnight deadline would imperil that goal and change the future of the present and future generations, calling into question the survival of the most vulnerable nations.

The Climate Vulnerable Forum is an international partnership of 48 developing nations most threatened by the global climate emergency. Bangladesh currently stands as president of the CVF until 2022, taking over from the Marshall Islands this year. The Global Center on Adaptation is Managing Partner of support to the CVF and host of the forum’s secretariat.

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