The second South-South Cooperation on Climate Change Forum called for effective, long-term arrangements to promote collaboration among developing countries to address the impacts of climate change, including the establishment of a dedicated platform on South-South cooperation.
6 December 2015: The second South-South Cooperation on Climate Change Forum called for effective, long-term arrangements to promote collaboration among developing countries to address the impacts of climate change, including the establishment of a dedicated platform on South-South cooperation.
Participants also called for inclusion of “a South-South dimension” in all initiatives and funding mechanisms under the UNFCCC.
Over 100 participants attended the high-level Forum, which took place on the sidelines of the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 21) to the UNFCCC in Paris, France. The UN Environment Programme – International Ecosystem Management Partnership (UNEP- IEMP) organized the Forum, which was sponsored by UNEP and the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) of China. The first such Forum took place at COP 20 in Lima, Peru in 2014.
Panelists at the Forum proposed several areas of focus for South-South cooperation, including: promoting ecosystem-based approaches for adaptation and mitigation; building long-term institutional and human capacity; and enabling the engagement of countries of the South in international science and policy processes.
At the Forum, Minister Zhenghua Xie, Special Representative for Climate Change, China, reiterated his country’s pledge to provide US$3.1 billion in climate finance for developing countries, first announced on the state visit of President of China Xi Jinping to the US in September 2015. [UNEP Press Release] [NDRC Website]