Beyond COP 29: Southasia’s Climate Challenges – A Call for Southasian Solidarity

29 December 2024

At an online discussion hosted by the Southasia Peace Action Network on Sunday 29 December 2024, participants endorsed the following resolution:

Resolution

The SouthAsia Peace Action Network, Sapan, stands in solidarity with the people of the Region seeking relief and justice from the adverse impacts of climate change

Home to a quarter of the globe’s population, South Asia is one of the most vulnerable regions to climate shocks ranging from rising sea levels to devastating flooding and intensifying heat waves to droughts, to name just a few.

To this region climate change is not a future threat. The devastating impacts to lives, livestock, infrastructure, economy, and habitat it is facing are in keeping with the triple planetary crisis.

The developing and underdeveloped countries of the Region are disproportionately burdened with the cost of dealing with these impacts.

The 29th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties, or COP, agreed in November to deliver at least $300 billion per year by 2035 to developing and vulnerable countries, a climate financing target that is three times more than the $100 billion-per-year goal countries first set 15 years ago, but far less than the $1.3 trillion per year that the vulnerable countries have sought.

Given the environmental and financial challenges faced by South Asia, Sapan calls upon the polluters, the historical emitters and perpetrators of climate change, to make good on their emissions cuts commitments, based on equity and fair shares. They must provide the needed finances required by the vulnerable countries for meeting their mitigation targets and adaptation imperatives.

Experts have shown that this goal can be met without requiring any significant additional budgetary allocation from developed nations, beyond their already pledged increases.

Sapan calls upon governments to negotiate an equitable access to finances and technology to transition from fossil fuels to cleaner energy alternatives.

Sapan calls upon all regional stakeholders to rally together so the call for climate justice resonates at forums that have the resources and political power to make it happen.

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Since Climate Change knows no borders, shared solutions to shared problems will have to be worked out by taking a regional cooperative, collaborative approach. This includes issues related to climate change, like floods and heatwaves, as well as environmental pollution in the water bodies and air pollution.

A transnational, transboundary approach on the lines of Track II dialogues can pool ideas and leverage greater support at international forums by showing a solidarity of purpose.

As an umbrella regional platform, Southasia Peace Action Network calls for the governments and peoples of the region to work towards soft borders, engage in economic cooperation, knowledge and technical skills sharing and collaboration on all issues including climate change.

Endorsed by meeting participants and all those who registered

Panelists, speakers, and Sapan team