1 March 2013: Members of the the Like-Minded Developing Countries in Climate Change (LMDC) met in Geneva, Switzerland, on 1 March 2013, to discuss the outcomes of the 18th session of Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC (COP 18). The meeting was attended by representatives of Bolivia, China, Cuba, Ecuador, Egypt, India, Mali, Malaysia, Nicaragua, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and Venezuela.

Stressing that the developing countries will have to deal with most of the adverse effects of climate change despite having contributed less to the problem than others, participants highlighted ambitious actions being undertaken in developing countries for both climate change mitigation and adaptation. Particularly, developing country representatives underscored initiatives undertaken by their countries to, inter alia, scale up the share of renewable energy sources and develop and implement national climate change action plans.

On the operationalization of the Kyoto Protocol’s second commitment period, participants urged the ratification of Protocol amendments to ensure legal certainty of the second commitment period. They expressed concern over developed countries’ mitigation ambitions for the second commitment period being below what is indicated by science to be required to meet mitigation targets, their historical responsibilities, and the international community’s expectations. They called on developed countries that joined the second commitment period to scale up their mitigation ambition by 2014, and on developed countries that are not parties to the Kyoto Protocol, or are not joining the second commitment period, to equally scale up their mitigation ambitions to comparable levels.

On the Ad hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP), participants emphasized that negotiations shall be “under the Convention” and be consistent with the Convention principles and provisions, especially those of equity and common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities (CBDR). They also called for a comprehensive scope of the ADP’s work, which must address, inter alia: the equity and CBDR principles; increasing developed countries’ mitigation commitments; the provision of the means of implementation to developing countries from developed countries, such as finance and technology transfer; adaptation; the use of non-market approaches; establishment of a loss and damage mechanism; and the economic and social consequences of response measures. [Press Release] [IISD RS Sources]