Third part of the second session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP 2-3)

Opening statement by Nepal on behalf of the Least Developed Countries Group

Warsaw, Poland

Co-Chairs, Excellencies and distinguished delegates,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the Group of LDCs. Our Group associates itself with the statements made by Fiji on behalf of G77 and China, by Swaziland on behalf of the Africa Group, and by Nauru on behalf of the AOSIS.

First of all, I would like to congratulate both of you on your election as Co-chairs of the ADP. We believe that under your able leadership, ADP will deliver concrete outcomes here in Warsaw.

I thank you and the Secretariat for the preparations made for this meeting. Thank you also for the two technical papers, the overview of institutions, mechanisms and arrangements under the Convention, as well as your scenario note.

As you mentioned in your message, we fully agree with you that the ADP has laid a strong foundation and we are now ready to shift gears, moving on from developing and understanding the concepts to defining the content of the 2015 agreement and achieving concrete results on pre-2020 ambition.

Co-Chairs, we have spent a considerable time sharing our views on the scope, structure and elements of the 2015 agreement. It is now time that we start building the process for 2015 agreement by further clarifying the way forward. The time and the schedule we have for this is very tight.

Co-Chairs, we reiterate that the outcomes of the ADP must be in line with the ultimate objective of the Convention and this can only be achieved through a collective and equitable sharing of efforts and universal participation.

With the very survival of many of our nations at stake, only the highest level of commitment from all is acceptable. Only this will guarantee global climate action towards stabilization of the average global temperature to prevent dangerous climate change.

Some Parties advocate their right to assess whether their contribution under the 2015 agreement is acceptable to them. However, we are concerned that the current proposals do not respect moral and legal obligations of these Parties to respect the right of the most vulnerable countries to defend their survival.

We believe that a voluntary, non-binding pledge and review regime will not deliver what is required by science to address the climate change challenge and could lead towards a 4°C warming world while the scientific community has shown that the 1.5°C goal is still technically and economically feasible. However, the frontiers of possibilities are closing faster.

Co-Chairs, in this context, we have four suggestions for the way forward in Warsaw:

One: Advance on concrete actions under both workstreams through formal sessions rather than general workshops and roundtables only. To this end, we suggest that we establish two contact groups – one for each workstream.

Two: Work on a clear vision of the timeline and deliverables needed to reach the global agreement at COP 21 and close the pre-2020 mitigation ambition gap as soon as possible. This means that we should advance on all fronts, including ensuring a decision to set up a clear process to clarify all Parties’ emissions reduction targets – and financial contributions under both workstreams. The new agreement should address mitigation, adaptation, finance, technology development and transfer, transparency of action and support, and capacity building in a balanced and effective manner.

Three: Call for political commitment, leadership and willingness from all Parties, in particular Annex I parties to explore a range of options to increase the level of ambition for the pre-2020 period with all Parties contributing to this global effort; and

Four: Capture the advancement of the implementation of the LCA outcome for the period 2013 – 2020, particularly finance.

Mobilisation and scaling up of finance and effective delivery of committed financial resources now, up to and beyond 2020 are key. In this context, clarification on how the developed countries are going to meet their goal to jointly mobilize and disburse the USD 100bn a year by 2020 is paramount.

We have our full confidence in you and our Group is happy to support you in every step to achieve the goals of the ADP.

Thank you Co-chairs.