Climate Governance: Ensuring a Collective Commitment

From left: David Bottomley, Dow Jones; Patrick Alley, Founder and Director of Global Witness; Iruthisham Adam, Maldives' Ambassador to the UN; Andrew Wardell, Governance Programme Director at CIFOR; and Daphne Wysham, Fellow and Board Member of the Institute for Policy Studies. CIFOR Photo/Angela Dewan

By Angela Dewan

Concerns of human rights abuses and a lack of consultation with forest-dependent communities in REDD+ design are not new, and they are very much being considered in international level REDD+ design and discussions. In a plenary session today on climate governance, however, Iruthisham Adam, the Maldives’ ambassador to the UN, said that not enough is being done and that the developing world feels a true sense of threat.

“There is almost zero trust between states on the issue of climate change, developing states do not believe [developed countries] are commitment to finance adaptation and mitigation policies. They want to see procedures in place that will hold developed countries to their pledges,” she said.

Policies must be rolled out in a way that the most marginalised groups can have full participation in negotiation, she said, adding that the Maldives was willing to participate if measurement, reporting and verification  is taken seriously.

Her country’s concerns are warranted. The Maldives is among the first nations likely to be seriously affected by climate change, as rising sea levels threaten their existence. (more…)