Least developed countries set expectations for COP28 with Dakar Declaration

Subject: IR

Section: International Conventions

Context:

Ministers from the world’s 46 least developed countries (LDC) issued a joint Dakar Declaration on Climate Change 2023 outlining their expectation and priorities for 28th Conference of Parties (COP28) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Dakar declaration:

The Dakar Declaration called for urgent global emissions reductions, increased climate finance, a strong outcome operationalising the new Loss and Damage Fund and an ambitious Global Stocktake to close the gaps in global climate action.
- LDCs account for more than 14 per cent of the global population, they only account for about 1 per cent of emissions from fossil fuels and industrial processes.

Key points of the Dakar declaration:

Developed countries must present a clear road map for at least doubling adaptation finance delivered by 2025 through public, grant-based financing.
A New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance should provide new and additional resources and should be many times greater than the current $100 billion per year floor.
The UNFCCC centralised carbon market mechanism must also be operationalised by 2024, including the recognition of the specific needs and special circumstances of LDCs, as well as the implementation of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement’s capacity building programme.

About ‘LDC Climate change’ group:

The Least Developed Countries are 46 nations that are especially vulnerable to climate change but have done the least to cause the problem.
Through the coordination of the LDC Group on Climate Change, the Least Developed Countries work together at the intergovernmental negotiations under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The current chair of the LDC Group is Ms Madeleine Diouf Sarr (Senegal).
Dakar is the capital and largest city of Senegal.