[18 November, Marrakech]: Climate Action Network South Asia (CANSA) members welcome the progress made on technical front at the COP22 but expressed their disappointment on lack of urgency shown by developed countries on delivering their promise of providing necessary funding to developing countries to cope with the incessant impacts of climate change.

“The agreement on process for preparing a rule book for implementation of Paris agreement, the infusion of some more money in  adaptation fund and the fact that CMA the implementing body of Paris Agreement has begun functioning is all good news but the money on the table is way less than required to help the  developing countries to implement their conditional NDC and close the emissions gap required to arrest runaway climate change and assist the most vulnerable and the poorest of poor in South Asia.“ said Sanjay Vashist, Director of Climate Action Network South Asia.

“It is very important that the vulnerable countries fight to enhance their resilience to the adverse effects of climate change while making efforts to project their development pathways Low Carbon. Janathakshan welcomes the commitment made by the CVF at its high level segment today to keep the momentum of Paris Agreement by ensuring tackling both resilience and low carbon development. The 47 countries part of the Climate Vulnerable Forum have in their declaration today committed to updating their Nationally Determined Contributions before 2020 emphasising that additional enabling support is critical for their implementation” said Ranga Pallawalla, CEO of Janathakshan, Sri Lanka.

The forty seven countries in the Climate Vulnerable Forum have committed to go 100% renewable by mid century including my country Bangladesh. We expect the rest of the world to follow.” said Dr Saleemul Huq. Director. International Centre for Climate Change and Development.

“The job here in Marrakech was to start writing the rulebook for the Paris Agreement and to take urgent action.But the issue of finance has thrown a spanner in the works. Although several countries have made welcome contributions to immediate finance needs, rich countries have been trying to wriggle out of their pledges to help poorer countries meet the costs of coping with impacts and greening their economies. Climate action will cost money that poorer countries simply don’t have. The general message to developing countries is ‘you’re on your own.’ “In the planet’s hottest year ever, when parts of Africa are dealing with their worst drought in decades, rich countries’ willingness to leave developing countries in the lurch holds back climate action at a time when we need it most. “Without real finance, and drastic cuts in emissions from rich countries the planet doesn’t have a chance of staying under 1.5°C warming. Developed countries must remember that even if they have won the finance fight in the conference room, they will still be the losers on a hotter planet.”  said Harjeet Singh, global lead on climate change for ActionAid.