Statement by H.E. Mr. Masud Bin Momen, Ambassador & Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to UN, at the Board Meeting of the Local Climate Adaptive Living Facility (LoCAL) as Chair of the Global Coordination Bureau of LDCs, and as the Co-Chair of LoCAL Board
One UN Hotel, New York, 12 April 2016
Thank you, Mr. Jackson, for giving me the floor.
Executive Secretary of UNCDF, Ms. Judith Karl,
Co-Chair of the LoCAL Board, Ambassador Zinsou,
Excellencies,
Distinguished delegates from the capitals and from the Missions in New York,
Colleagues from the UN system and other international organizations,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Good morning to you all.
First of all, let me thank UNCDF for inviting me to deliver remarks today at the Project Board Meeting of the Local Climate Adaptive Living Facility, commonly known as LoCAL. As you are aware, Bangladesh was elected as the Chair of the Global Coordination Bureau of the Least Developed Countries in October 2015 for a period of three years. In that capacity, Bangladesh will take over the responsibility of the Co-Chair of the Board of LoCAL from the delegation of Benin here in New York.
2. Ambassador & Permanent Representative of Benin is here with us at the meeting. I would like to put on record the deep appreciation of the delegation of Bangladesh, and of all LDC delegations as a whole, for the commendable performance of the delegation of Benin during its Co-Chairmanship of the LoCAL Board, very ably led by its Permanent Representative Ambassador Jean-Francis Zinsou. He has championed the case of LDCs in every single forum in UN. It is during his tenure as Co-Chair that the number of countries participating in LoCAL has increased from 2 to 11, with the volume of resources available to pilot programmes increasing to US$17 million. I will try to follow the footsteps of my illustrious predecessor.
3. As you all probably are aware, Bangladesh is one of the key implementation countries of various UNCDF programmes, including LoCAL. In our country, we have a strong local government system spread into 3 tiers of local governance (district or pourashabha, upazila and union parishad). The LoCAL projects of Phase I were implemented in collaboration with the national government, and now the Phase II is upcoming with significantly increased budget. The pilot projects proved that local governments can efficiently and effectively implement small, local based climate change resilience interventions. These projects also created awareness at the local policy making level, resulting in climate responsive planning by local governments. Of course, after completion of the pilot projects in Phase I, the more practical and scalable projects in Phase II will begin, where funding is a key issue. Projects are being formulated to be implemented jointly with UNDP and other multilateral and bilateral development partners.
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4. If we look at global scale, LoCAL is rapidly becoming a standard and globally recognized mechanism for LDCs in terms of climate resilience building projects at local levels. Another important marker for UNCDF is that it works to provide access to the Green Climate Fund, or GCF, with the objective to transfer resources to local governments through national institutions and systems and local governments through national institutions and systems and building verifiable climate change adaptatibuilding verifiable climate change adaptation and resilience.on and resilience. In addition, LoCAL, as in the case of In addition, LoCAL, as in the case of Bangladesh, has successfully created awareness among policy makers and people at subnational Bangladesh, has successfully created awareness among policy makers and people at subnational level about the global issue of climate change, and its local impact. That in itself will go a long level about the global issue of climate change, and its local impact. That in itself will go a long way inway in the adaptation efforts of LDC governments.the adaptation efforts of LDC governments. In addition to Paris Agreement on Climate In addition to Paris Agreement on Climate Change, the Sendai Framework and Change, the Sendai Framework and thethe 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development also emp2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development also emphasize hasize on strengthening LDC capacities in addressing climate change. In on strengthening LDC capacities in addressing climate change. In thethe SDGs, climate change and SDGs, climate change and LDCs feature pLDCs feature prominently.rominently.
5. In terms of international agreements in the area of climate change, tIn terms of international agreements in the area of climate change, the he recently concluded recently concluded Paris Agreement welcomes the efforts of all nonParis Agreement welcomes the efforts of all non–Party stakeholders to address and respond to Party stakeholders to address and respond to climate change, includclimate change, including those of subnational authorities and further decided to launch a work ing those of subnational authorities and further decided to launch a work plan for the period 2016plan for the period 2016––2020 which explicitly includes identifying opportunities to strengthen 2020 which explicitly includes identifying opportunities to strengthen capacity at subnational level.capacity at subnational level. However, it is important to provide financial strength However, it is important to provide financial strength to the local to the local governments if we want to encourage them to come up with local solutions for the governments if we want to encourage them to come up with local solutions for the issue of climate issue of climate change. change. One of the important aspects of the Green Climate Fund, or GCF, is the decision to allocate at least 50% of its funding towards adaptation, especially in LDCs and SIDS. This is a significant decision. LDCs where LoCAL are being implemented, may work with UNCDF to access the GCF once their concerned organizations have been accredited. I would request UNCDF to provide assistance to LDCs in this area.
6. As members of the LoCAL Programme Board, As members of the LoCAL Programme Board, I believe it is I believe it is important for us, the important for us, the Permanent Missions of LDCs in New York, Permanent Missions of LDCs in New York, to step up efforts to support LoCAL awareness raising to step up efforts to support LoCAL awareness raising efforts efforts among LDC delegations working at UN in New York, LDC delegatamong LDC delegations working at UN in New York, LDC delegations working with the ions working with the UNFCCC, UNFCCC, and the members of Green Climate Fund Board.and the members of Green Climate Fund Board.
7. I would also like to call upon the international community to contribute to the UNCDF so I would also like to call upon the international community to contribute to the UNCDF so that the LoCAL projects, particularly the projects in Phase II, can be implemented effecthat the LoCAL projects, particularly the projects in Phase II, can be implemented effectively. tively.
8. Finally, it is important to continue improving the performance of LoCAL to ensure that the mechanism remains dynamic and robust. Without being fluid and flexible, building on sharing of information and best practices, it will not be possible to progress from one phase to the next one to prove the effectiveness of LoCAL. In order for LoCAL to become an internationally recognized mechanism that truly benefits the populations of LDCs, the LDC governments and UNCDF will have to work together to demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness of LoCAL in different country contexts. We all need to work together to achieve that target.
Thank you.