Experts, climate advocates and civil society leaders have demanded that global leaders joining the forthcoming UN climate summit make and fulfill urgent and realistic commitments to help resolve the growing climate issues across the world.
They articulated a fervent call to the summit — COP 29 — to ensure ambitious, 1.5 °C aligned NDC-3 by countries with financial and technical support, especially for LDCs, decide a timeline for fossil fuel phase-out, finalisation of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, and a clear definition and governance framework for a just transition.
Under the banner of the Climate Justice Alliance-Bangladesh, a coalition of 40 civil society organisations (CSOs), they came up with the calls at an event titled “COP 29 Position Paper Unpacking and Sharing: Articulating CSOs Position Together” in a Dhaka hotel on Thursday (November 5, 2024).
The annual event is to held in Baku, Azerbaijan, from November 11 to 22.
The Center for Participatory Research and Development (CPRD), an independent, non-profit, and progressive policy, research, and implementation institute, leads the platform.
The speakers demanded to define climate finance with a standardised framework and ambitious New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) that prioritises concessional, grant-based, new, additional, and publicly sourced finance and balanced funding between adaptation and mitigation, prioritises the needs of the LDCs, SIDS, and the most vulnerable developing countries, and promotes gender equality.
The alliance also demanded that global research be conducted to understand climate change’s impact on human rights and establish a legal framework under UNFCCC to address climate-induced human rights violations.
CRPD Chief Executive and the alliance’s coordinator, Md. Shamsudohha, explaining the key issues of COP 29 and presenting the key demands, said, “The annual conference will carry on the legacy of past climate negotiations.
“We expect actionable decisions on implementing the Paris Agreement and the Convention crafted by the COP.”
He also demanded a new finance target to replace the $100 billion annual target with need-based, predictable financing for climate-vulnerable developing countries to transition from fossil fuels and enhance resilience to climate change.
He demanded both quantity and quality of climate finance, and the NCQG must establish a robust monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) indicator. However, he also denied the vague language “New Vision and Operational Model” mentioned during COP 27, which allows for broad interpretation and lacks specific criteria.
The climate campaigner added that at COP 29, developed countries must pledge new funding to the FRLD and ensure its swift operationalisation to support economic and non-economic loss and damage.
“COP 29 should also establish a dedicated ‘window’ within the NCQG through the FRLD for predictable financing,” he added.
Shamsudohha recalled that COP 28 in 2023 emphasised the significance of trans-boundary adaptation through collaboration, knowledge sharing, capacity building, data exchange, and modernizing early warning systems for climate risks.”
He demanded a binding international regulation or framework under the ‘Global Goal on Adaptation’ to advance negotiations on transboundary climate adaptation. He cited few examples, such as ‘the Indus Waters Treaty’ and ‘the Mekong River Commission.’
He further demanded to strengthen gender responsiveness in climate actions through comprehensive guidelines, dedicated funding for women and marginalized groups, and intersectional monitoring and evaluation.
The establishment of a dedicated framework for addressing climate-induced human mobility, with clear definitions, standardized terminology, and robust data collection to support, also to “Align the Global Stocktake (GST) process with IPCC assessments and ensure effective implementation of the GST-1 outcomes” was also demanded by him.
Islamic Relief Bangladesh Country Director Talha Jamal said that CSOs have crucial roles in ensuring climate justice for those most at risk from climate change.
He underlined that the Alliance has taken outstanding steps in this direction under the direction of the CPRD.
Backing the recommendations placed, he suggested that government representatives carefully consider all recommendations from various platforms.
Shaheen Anam, executive director of Manusher Jonno Foundation, said that the Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) should focus on creating a just and equitable financing system for mitigation, adaptation, and loss and damage, rather than merely increasing private finance mobilisation or burdening vulnerable countries with loans.
The MDBs and international financial institutions (IFIs) must reform their practices to align and scale up funding, simplify access, and mobilise climate finance from diverse sources, she concluded.
The event was addressed among others by Waterkeeper Alliance executive committee member Sharif Jamil; WaterAid Country Director WaterAid Hasin Jahan, Christian Commission for Development in Bangladesh Executive Director Juliate Keya Malakar, BUET teacher Dr. A.K.M. Saiful Islam, Helvetas Bangladesh Country Director Prashant Verma.
