At the closing of the latest round of international climate talks in Bonn, Germany, Ambassador Marlene Moses, Chair of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), a group of 44 low-lying and coastal countries that are highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, released the following statement:
“We began this session on the heels of the recent contributions of IPCC Working Group 2 for the 5th Assessment Report, which underscored the escalating threat Small Island Developing States face from climate change and the grave consequences for failing to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions responsible for the crisis immediately.
“The Working Group 3 contribution identifies numerous proven policy and technology measures for rapidly and cost effectively reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and even more solutions were highlighted in the Technical Expert Meetings on the urban environment and land use at this session. We see the solutions-oriented approach under Workstream 2 as essential to closing the emissions gap and hope the discussions on successful actions — many of which have sustainable development co-benefits — help pave the way to increased ambition and bold action partnerships to be announced at the upcoming Pacific Islands Forum in Palau, SIDS Conference in Samoa, and the UN Secretary General’s Summit in September.
“At the same time we must continue to work in earnest to adopt an ambitious agreement in Paris, and the following areas require particular attention:
“First, further elaboration of the elements to be included in the final 2015 agreement;
“Second, the identification of the information needed to allow parties to present their nationally determined contributions in a manner that facilitates clarity, transparency, and an understanding.
“Third, finance is an integral building block of the 2015 agreement. The 2015 agreement MUST contain commitments by developed country Parties and provisions to ensure scaled-up, adequate long term, predictable, new and additional finance to support mitigation and adaptation to the adverse effects of climate change in developing countries.
“Finally, Loss and damage due to the impacts of climate change is a reality for AOSIS and it must therefore be part of the 2015 agreement. Loss and Damage must be a separate element under the new agreement. The mechanism we launched in Warsaw should form a separate area of negotiation and warrants specific discussion in a separate session.
“The Warsaw International Mechanism on loss and Damage established at COP 19 must be anchored under the new agreement.
“The extreme vulnerability of Small Island States to climate change demands urgent action, and international momentum is finally building to deliver, we call on the world to ensure the opportunity is not lost.”
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