Dhaka, 8 October 2020: 

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina calls on all countries to take robust  and urgent actions to fulfill their global commitments under the Paris Agreement at the Climate Vulnerable Forum Leaders’ Event held yesterday virtually on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

With an objective to urge all nations for submitting the improved Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) by midnight on 31 December 2020, a survival deadline for the climate, the event was presided over by the current chair of the Forum Sheikh Hasina and was joined by the UN Secretary General António Guterres, GCA Chair Ban Ki Moonalong with other CVF leaders, Thematic Ambassadors and global partners.

Speaking at the event, Sheikh Hasina highlighted the vulnerabilities of the CVF countries despite their insignificant contribution to the global carbon emission. She reiterated that an ambitious collective response with concrete action plan and commitment was essential to save these countries and the planet. The Prime Minister also mentioned that as CVF Chair, Bangladesh’s focus would be obtaining support to keep the global temperature increase up to 1.5 degrees, accelerating financing mechanisms and underscoring the narratives of climate resilience and “loss and damage” issue. She referred to the displacement of over one million Rohingya people from Myanmar that Bangladesh gave shelter at a great social and environmental cost. 

Foreign Minister Dr. A. k. Abdul Momen introduced the five Thematic Ambassadors of CVF who will take the messages of CVF countries to the international community and promote their interest.Maldives’ Speaker of the Parliament Mohamed Nasheed for was appointed for Ambition, Bangladeshi Autism activist Saima Wazed Hossain for Vulnerability, Philippine’s Deputy Speaker Loren Legarda for Parliaments, Republic of Congo’s Tosi Mpanu-Mpanu for Renewable Energy and Marshall Island’s Jetnil-Kijiner was appointed for Culture.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres applauded the moral leadership and concrete examples of the climate vulnerable countries in his speech and said “Climate-vulnerable countries are already leaders on climate ambition and have been among the first to submit more ambitious Nationally Determined Contributions ahead of COP 26.”

Ban Ki-Moon also highlighted the importance of all countries submitting an NDC before the year end and said “Global emissions need to be cut by 7.6% each year between now and 2030 to keep the 1.5 within reach. Action cannot wait. We cannot possibly ‘build back better’ without doing more on climate. 2020 is the year for action. Today’s launch of this CVF “Midnight Survival Initiative for the Climate” is critical.”Ms. Saima Wazed Hossain, CVF thematic ambassador for vulnerability, explicitly put an emphasis on the impact on mental health and said, “From my perspective, as a mental health expert and disability advocate, I am specially concerned about the invisible injustice of the impact on mental health of individuals and families that are affected by disasters that are caused due to climate change.”

Leaders from other climate vulnerable countries like Marshall Islands, Ethiopia, Barbados, Cambodia, Fiji, Nepal, United Kingdom and Colombia echoed the call for an improved global response to the climate emergency. Also, Mr. Al Gore, former U.S. Vice President of the USA, foreign and environment Ministers of Bhutan, Republic of the Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Kenya, Madagascar, Rwanda, Haiti, Maldives, Netherlands, and Philippines lauded Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and strongly supported the midnight initiative of Bangladesh.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated an online and social media initiative, called Midnight Survival Deadline for the Climateat the event to oblige the countries to submit NDCs before the end of the 2020, and meet the Paris obligations they had signed to protect our climate.The event was moderated by Prof. Dr. Patrick Verkooijen, CEO of the Global Centre on Adaptation.

The Climate Vulnerable Forum is an international partnership of 48 developing nations most threatened by the global climate emergency. The current president of the CVF is Bangladesh, which took over from the Marshall Islands this year and will hold the presidency until 2022.