The Least Developed Countries (LDC) Group reiterated its call for urgent and immediate action for deep emission cuts and scaled up climate finance at the Thimphu Call for Ambition and Action ministerial meeting held on Monday. Currently, Bhutan is the chair of the group. The foreign minister, Dr Tandi Dorji, led the Bhutanese delegation.
At the virtual meeting, the LDC group emphasized that climate change requires an urgent and immediate action that is both ambitious and equitable to support the interests of the most vulnerable countries.
The members said that the revised Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) are not in line with the goal of limiting the global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius. NDC are national plans highlighting climate actions that government aim to implement in response to climate change.
“The internationally agreed 1.5 target is dangerously close. This is a warning signal that we must act now. The recent LDC synthesis report has shown a wide gap between what has been pledged and what we need in order to achieve the target that we agreed on, way back in 2015,” said Dr Tandi Dorji, the Chair of LDC Group at the Ministerial Level.
Similarly, the Chair of the LDC Group in climate negotiations, Sonam P. Wangdi, said the LDCs are disproportionately affected by climate change despite being the least responsible for it. “To ensure a safer, more prosperous future for all our people and future generations, a coordinated global effort to address climate change is urgently needed. All countries must act now!”
The LDC group also said that developed countries are failing to meet their existing commitment to deliver 100 billion US dollars per year for climate actions.
The group also stressed the importance of addressing the impacts of climate change on agriculture.
“New research by the World Bank shows that up to 32 million people will be pushed into extreme poverty by climate change by 2030 and the number is further expected to increase without a significant reduction in global emission,” added Lyonpo.
The meeting was organized in preparation for the UN Climate Change Conference, which will take place in Glasgow in the UK from the end of this month.
Tshering Zam
