Least Developed Country experts raise their voices at COP21

Members of IIED's Least Developed Countries Independent Expert Group will be at D&C Days in Paris as well as playing an active role at COP21.

News, 03 December 2015
Negotiators from over 190 countries are attending the Paris climate summit (Photo:UNclimatechange, Creative Commons via Flickr)

Negotiators from over 190 countries are attending the Paris climate summit (Photo:UNclimatechange, Creative Commons via Flickr)

Members of IIED's Least Developed Countries Independent Expert Group (IEG) will be at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) (COP21) talks in Paris to advocate on behalf of a fair deal for the world's poorest countries.

The IEG brings together experts from government, civil society organisations, research institutes and international agencies. Their role is to help Least Developed Countries (LDCs) have a stronger voice in international negotiations on sustainable development.

IEG members will be attending the Development & Climate (D&C) Days event on Saturday, 5 December and Sunday, 6 December, which this year focuses on the key transitions needed to tackle climate change and eradicate poverty by 2030.

D&C Days, held each year alongside the United Nations climate talks, provides an opportunity for policymakers, scientists and development practitioners to meet for informal discussions, strategic dialogues and networking. 

IEG member Mariteuw Chimère Diaw, the director general of the African Model Forests Network secretariat, will be speaking on radical adaptation, while Pa Ousman Jarju, Minister of the Environment for the Government of The Gambia, will speak on the bottom line on action for climate change and poverty.

Saleemul Huq, who is a member of the IEG as well an IIED senior fellow and director of International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD), will be working alongside the Least Developed Countries group at the talks, highlighting the need for climate finance and the importance of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees.

He is also providing IIED with a daily video update from the talks. 

In the run-up to COP21, Ugandan journalist and IEG member Rosebell Kagumire commissioned a series of interviews with experts from the LDCs. The nine LDC voices interviews described the climate challenges facing LDC countries, as well as their hopes for the Paris talks. Kagumire will be reporting from COP for the Ugandan Daily Monitor, and will also be tweeting on behalf of the IEG group as @LDCexperts.

Fatima Denton, co-ordinator for the African Climate Policy Centre, is attending COP21 and blogged ahead of the talks on Africa's position

Farah Kabir, country director of ActionAid Bangladesh, James Murombedzi, coordinator of the Responsive Forest Governance Initiative in Africa, Youba Sokona, special advisor on sustainable development at the South Centre, and Chime Wangdi, the secretary general for the Tarayana Foundation in Bhutan, are also all involved.

The IEG was set up in 2013. IIED provides administrative, logistical and financial support to the group.