As Chairperson of the Group of 77 and China, I have the honour to share my impressions on the current negotiations towards the adoption of a new agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) at COP21/CMP11 in Paris.

The Group stands united and is firmly commitment to address climate change as a matter of urgency, as demonstrated by its leadership role in the current negotiations. It is by far the largest negotiating group of Parties and its 134 members constitute over 80% of the world’s population.

Our members share the common feature of all being developing countries that face pressing socio-economic challenges and acute vulnerability to climate change. For us climate change is not a new issue, as our societies have long since been forced to adapt to the reality of a changing climate and increasingly frequent extreme weather events that are the result of emissions of greenhouse gases generated over centuries, predominantly by developed countries.

All too often we have had to respond to crises without the assistance of developed countries by using our own scarce domestic resources or with voluntary help from fellow developing countries through South-South solidarity.

For the low lying island countries in our Group their very existence is in jeopardy as sea levels rise, for others their fresh water supplies are threatened due to desertification. As we speak, at least two of our members, the Philippines and the Bahamas, are struggling yet again to cope with devastating storms that will set back their development.

Available at: http://allafrica.com/stories/201510220912.html