Vietnam and ASEAN for a just COVID19 recovery and addressing climate change risk

Joint Statement to AWGCC by Civil Society Constituencies in ASEAN Member States

The ability of CSOs to participate in the ASEAN Working Group on Climate Change (AWGCC) meeting is an important development in stakeholder engagement, which we highly appreciate. We hope this will become standard practice at all forthcoming meetings of the Working Group.

We urge MONRE of Vietnam, through the Government of Viet Nam, to include the climate crisis and outcomes of the AWGCC meeting on the agenda of the forthcoming ASEAN Heads of State Meeting. We hope that this consultative process will be adopted by the national focal points of the UNFCCC of all countries which take on the chairmanship of ASEAN.

By designing and implementing economic stimulus and recovery packages which align with the Paris Agreement, ASEAN Member States will be able to respond to immediate social needs, while enabling a just recovery from the COVID-19 crisis as well as addressing the climate crisis.

In this regard, cooperation and collaboration on climate change among ASEAN Parties to the UNFCCC should be strengthened and formally institutionalised within ASEAN.

Become a signatory

The year 2020 and COP26, rescheduled to 2021, mark the beginning of a critical decade for climate change and ambition in tackling the climate crisis. The implementation of the Paris Agreement (PA) must send strong signals that ASEAN Parties to the UNFCCC are committed to delivering ambitious, transformative, just and fair Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) for the benefit of the peoples of ASEAN and rest of the world.

This statement outlines our expectations of ASEAN Parties to the UNFCCC for the period to COP26 and beyond; it incorporates the voices of vulnerable and marginalised communities on the frontlines who are directly facing the impacts of climate change, including women and indigenous peoples.