As COP 27 winds up, Papua New Guinea delivered its closing statement on behalf of the Coalition of Rainforest Nations (CfRN) to the UNFCCC COP 27 Closing Plenary by Minister for Environment, Conservation and Climate Change Honorable Simo Kilepa as follows:
Mr. President, Excellencies and distinguished delegates,
I am honored to speak on behalf of the Coalition for Rainforest Nations.
Let me begin by aligning our remarks with that made by the distinguished delegation of Pakistan on behalf of the Group of 77 and China.
Mr President, it has been a challenging COP 27 given the important issues at stake for all of our delegations, as reflected by the closing of this Conference today. We acknowledge your leadership and also for the flexibility shown by the Parties.
Our Coalition is grateful for our collective efforts that has enable us to conclude this process. This Conference has been boldly pronounced as an Implementation COP. For us, to ensure effective implementation, we cannot overstate the importance of a transparent, balanced and inclusive process.
All Parties must recognize the latest scientific findings that current actions and commitments as reflected in the NDCs are not aligned with the achievement of the Paris Agreement goals. This is indeed most concerning and must be addressed urgently and we need strong political commitment now rather than mere rhetoric.
We are pleased to note that the Sharm decision includes the reference to limiting global warming consistent with the Paris Agreement, requiring rapid, deep and sustained reductions in global greenhouse gas emissions for global net greenhouse gas emissions reduction.
Mr. President, in this context, as recognized by the IPCC, the role of the forest and land use sector in achieving the GHG emissions reductions and removals necessary to get on the 1.5 degrees Celsius pathway is huge.
Under the REDDPlus mechanism, we have rainforest nations that are already implementing with speed and scale to reverse deforestation and forest degradation, as well as conservation of existing stocks. More than 9 Giga tonnes of reduction and removals have been already produced by implementing REDD Plus activities at national scale as per Article 5.2 under the Paris Agreement.
Mr. President, the outcome here in Egypt offers an additional step towards the provision of the support needed by all rainforest countries to continue this journey to slow, stop and reverse deforestation globally.
As we have agreed in decision after decision, results-based finance should be provided to developing country Parties that is new, additional and predictable and may come from a wide variety of public and private sources. It is time for companies globally to purchase REDD Plus results, or credits, that have been verified twice under the Paris Agreement.
Mr. President, on Article 6 and forests, we reiterate that all activities in the forest sector are regulated by Article 5, paragraph 2 of the Paris Agreement for developing countries based upon, ‘decisions already agreed under the Convention”.
For the activities agreed under Article 5.2 of the Paris Agreement, the relevant methodologies have already been agreed by the Parties and require national level aggregation. Thus, there is no mandate for CMA, or the 6.4 Supervisory Board, to consider or take further decisions on these matters.
In addition, all Parties must apply the same national scale guidance and rules and be based on IPCC guidance and guidelines in order to ensure fairness and transparency.
Finally, Mr President, developing countries, including my own and from other members of our Coalition, cannot be expected to solve a problem they did not cause without finance to implement the Paris Agreement. The importance and necessity cannot be overstated.
In closing, our Coalition would like to congratulate you and your team and all Parties for the efforts undertaken in the past two weeks and is looking forward to continue working constructively with you all on the road to Dubai! Thank you, Mr. President.
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