LDCs Stress Climate Vulnerability at UNESCAP High-Level Policy Dialogue

20 January 2010: The UN Environment and Social Commission for  Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) convened the High-level Asia-Pacific Policy Dialogue from 18-20 January, in Dakar, Bangladesh.

Participating countries stressed that least developed countries (LDCs) suffer the most from the effects of climate change and should be given due priority in the provision of resources promised during last December's UN Climate Change Conference.

The aim of the meeting was to develop a unified position ahead of a global review next year in Turkey on progress made in implementing the Brussels Programme of Action of 2001, which seeks to slash extreme poverty and hunger in LDCs by 2015 and promote their sustainable development. In the resulting Dhaka Outcome Document, Dialogue participants recognize that climate change and the food, fuel and financial crises exposed LDCs' acute vulnerabilities to external shocks that could derail development gains. They call for LDC representation on the Financial Stability Board set up by the G20 and for a greater LDC presence in international financial institutions. [UN Press Release] [UNESCAP Press Release] [Meeting Documents]