They made the call at a press conference on ‘Civil Society Call on Climate Change’ prior to the COP-19 at Dhaka Reporters Unity, organised by Oxfam and its alliance CSRL, in association with other civil society led organisations — EquityBD, CCDF, NCC,B, BIPNet, CCBD and CLEAN.

Executive Director of Centre for Global Change Dr Ahsan Uddin Ahmed read out the position paper of civil society while research fellow of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) Dr Mohammed Asaduzzaman and civil society members Mizanur Rahman Bijoy and Tanjir Hossain spoke at the press conference.

Dr Ahsan Uddin Ahmed said despite being at the lower end in emission ranking, the tresses and adverse impacts of climate change on various natural systems consequently frustrate the country’s development process, including reduction of poverty in developing countries and the least developed countries (LDCs).

“We, the civil society of Bangladesh, firmly believe that the principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities (CBDR & RC) enshrined in the convention must remain the cornerstone of any global plan of action for facing climate change,” he said.

Dr Ahsan Uddin said despite the central role of the principle, its implications for action across countries as reflected in outcome of climate change negotiation has not so far been noticeable. “There’s no room complacency… we need to initiate stronger and proactive actions.”

He said some of the Annex countries have recently opted out of the commitments on reduction of green house gas emission under, one pretext or other, thereby frustrating the hope of united global mitigation efforts. “We strongly feel that Bangladesh should continue voice its concern about this reversal in commitment.”

Dr Ahsan Uddin urged the government of Bangladesh to draw the attention of the global community to the provisions of the Copenhagen Accord on the review by 2017 of the feasibility of lowering green house gas emission for limiting warming potential to no more than 1.5 degree and called upon the UNFCCC process of review and Legally Binding Agreement to internalise the scientific feasibility of such limits of warming potential.

Targeting the nineteenth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP-19), which will be held from November 11 to 22 in Warsaw, Poland, the press conference declared the position paper of civil society, titled ‘Survival is non-negotiable, Equity, Justice and Fairness for all’.