Thirty-eighth session of the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI 38)

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

Bonn, Germany

Thank you Mr. Chair, Madam Executive Secretary and Colleagues,

Nepal has the honour to speak on behalf of the LDC Group. I align my statement with the statements made by Fiji on behalf of G77 and China, by Nauru on behalf of AOSIS, and the statement to be made by Swaziland on behalf of the Africa Group.

Chair, SBI inherited an important workload following the Durban and Doha outcomes. Along with other Parties and Groups in this hall, we are deeply disappointed about the inability to launch our work under this very important body in Bonn. We lost a lot of time, energy and most importantly resources which are extremely important and scarce for the work of this body. We hope that this situation will not lead to deepened mistrust and negatively impact the progress of the negotiations under other bodies of this process and outcomes we expect from COP 19 to be held in Warsaw, Poland.

We would like to have a clear indication of how you intend to manage the SBI work in Warsaw.

Chair, Durban and Doha laid the foundation for implementation of the agreed outcome pursuant to the Bali Action Plan. Among them, the National Adaptation Plans for LDCs and other developing countries is fundamental work. Doha agreed on the support to be provided to the LDCs for this matter, and requested GEF to inform the Parties on the way they intend to do so. We would like to hear the arrangements being made by GEF in response to this request. It is likely that we will need to give further guidance to the GEF on this matter.

The group thanks the LEG for providing the technical guidelines and the secretariat for their support. We also thank you Chair, and all those that joined us at the NAP Expo on 9 June, 2013.

Chair, there are a number of other agenda items that SBI is mandated to work on to deliver outcomes in Warsaw. We are frustrated that we could not discuss the issues related to finance, which mainly comes under SBI.

Loss and damage is an extremely important agenda item for our group. We expect cooperation from all Parties to achieve the objective set in Doha to finalize the institutional arrangement for loss and damage. The LDC Group believes that the establishment of an international mechanism is more appropriate to address loss and damage. The group does not believe that existing institutions could address all the issues related to loss and damage, in particular slow onset events. Towards this end, we consider that the SBI should commit to an expert meeting to develop the operational elements of this mechanism. The LDC Group has some ideas on how such a mechanism would work. We look forward to further discussions on this matter.

On the 2013-2015 Review, we believe that the centrality of science is paramount. Therefore, the structured expert dialogue should have a significant scientific input in its work.

On matters relating to LDCs, we seek clarity on progress in implementation of NAPAs and decisions on the implementation of all other elements of the LDC work programme.

We thank all the Parties who have made pledges to the LDCF so far and urge Parties to make more pledges so that we can implement all the elements of the LDC work programme, including our urgent and immediate adaptation needs spelt out in our NAPAs.

Chair, we once again urge you to take all the necessary steps to resolve the issues related to the SBI agenda prior to Warsaw so that we can start our work without delay.

The LDC Group is ready to engage meaningfully and constructively in Warsaw. We assure you of our continued support in your work.

Thank you.