INDEPENDENT ASSOCIATION OF LATIN AMERICA AND THE
CARIBBEAN
AILAC
Opening Statement for the ADP 2 -12 Opening Plennary
Paris, France. November 29th 2015
Distinguished Co Chairs. Fellow delegates.
1. I have the honour to submit this statement on behalf of the AILAC group of countries:
Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Panamá, Paraguay, Peru and our most recent
member, whom we welcome in this COP21, Honduras. At the outset, AILAC associates its
statement with the statement submitted by South Africa on behalf of the Group of 77 and
China.
2. The adoption of the Paris Agreement is not in the horizon anymore. It is imminent now
that we are finally here at CoP 21 at last. Many efforts by all, have been made to get us
here, and it is now time to move beyond mere assurances that our positions are reflected
in the text, and provide for the compromise and bridging to happen with all of our
partners to ensure that the ADP delivers to the CoP by next Saturday, that which it was
mandated to deliver: a legally binding instrument, under the Convention, applicable to all,
that addresses effectively and in a balanced manner mitigation, adaptation, means of
implementation and transparency.
3. The Paris Agreement must be durable and set the basis for enhancing ambition towards
the achievement of the objective of the Convention, by means of implementing nationally
determined commitments in a successive and progressive manner, with a view to arrive at
commonly agreed goals on all elements: mitigation, adaptation and means of
implementation.
4. The number of issues, concerns and the scale of the task, have put us in a situation where
we have the challenge of condensing the complex text before us into a comprehensive,
manageable, balanced output, ready for consideration of our Ministers by next Saturday.
This calls for us to shift gears, and a monumental effort to focus our discussions into
finding concrete solutions and common ground, and very few options per issue. Bearing
this in mind, we support and very much hope that the modality of work set out by you in
your scenario note, will allow us to achieve that purpose, and encourage all of our
partners to keep focus on the more substantive aspects of our work without delay.
Co-chairs, Distinguished colleagues
6. The outcome of the ADP, the Agreement we adopt here at CoP 21, is the ultimate
opportunity we have to prove the worth of the multilateral system to be the most
transparent, inclusive and balanced setting to address a challenge of global dimensions
such as climate change, its causes and catastrophic effects, that affects unjustly, the
world’s most vulnerable population, an important part of which is found in AILAC
countries.
7. The system embedded in the Paris Agreement, must set out a clear direction of travel,
with collectively agreed ambitious targets built around the 1.5°C long term temperature
goal, which in turn must and shall be met by comprehensive ambitious and successive
nationally determined commitments that deliver upon those targets, with developed
country parties taking the lead.
8. The Agreement must recognize and provide legal force to the actions that Parties have
nationally determined and communicated, acknowledging both the capabilities and
responsibilities of developed and developing countries respectively, as well as the need for
action on behalf of all Parties to deliver on the necessary collective level of ambition.
9. For AILAC, this collective commitment makes it imperative to reflect a long-term
mitigation target aimed at net zero emissions by the end of the century and, consequently
the effective implementation of mitigation commitments and provision of finance. A
strengthened transparency system together with successive commitments on mitigation,
adaptation and means of implementation are necessary to ensure the progressive
increase of ambition every five years. Parity must be achieved between adaptation and
mitigation in the Agreement, supported by a real commitment on behalf of developed
countries to provide resources on a global scale for mitigation and adaptation in a
predictable, sustainable and appropriate manner. Mobilizing climate finance is crucial, not
only to reach agreement, but in order to effectively implement mitigation and adaptation
efforts by developing countries.
10. Pre-2020 actions currently being discussed under Workstream 2 are also of fundamental
importance towards closing the mitigation gap prior to the entry into force of the Paris
agreement. This requires more ambitious efforts and higher levels of support for
developing countries.
Co- Chairs, Mr. President,
11. AILAC is ready to continue moving forward in a constructive spirit, with bridge – building
proposals and paving the way for the adoption of the Paris Agreement by our Ministers,
while recognizing the common but differentiated responsibilities and respective
capabilities of all Parties. We believe that these two concepts are the key to a lasting and
ambitious climate change regime, to ensure low emission and climate resilient
development. These are extraordinary times that require extraordinary efforts, and failure
is simply not an option.
Thank you.