Resolution on Strengthening Joint Action to Respond to Climate Change

26th Annual Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum
18-21 January 2018

Resolution on Strengthening Joint Action to Respond to Climate Change

APPF26/RES/07

(Sponsored by Australia, Canada, Fiji and Viet Nam)

The 26th Annual Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF):

Recalling the New Tokyo Declaration of the Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF) in 2012, affirming APPF's commitment to play a role in the development of a more peaceful and stable international community;

Recognizing the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and other mechanisms, agreements under the UNFCCC such as the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement as the key international and inter-governmental cooperation framework to respond to climate change globally;

Acknowledging the Annual APPF Resolutions in recent years about the role of parliamentary diplomacy, of APPF parliaments in promoting emergency actions to respond to climate change and address the impacts of climate change.

Holding in high regard the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development adopted at the UN Sustainable Development Summit in New York in 2015 and agenda items on climate change and responding to climate change at development cooperation for sustainable development forums in recent years;

Concerned about the negative impacts of climate change, a serious threat to people's wellbeing and welfare, particularly extreme weather conditions such as natural disasters, severe droughts and floods etc. as well as their implications including diseases, displaced populations, and loss of food security;

Noting the efforts of national parliaments in the Asia-Pacific in adopting important legislative documents, programs, projects at the national level to respond to climate change; as well as implementing the UNFCCC, the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris agreement;

Holding in high regard important parliamentary diplomacy developments, particularly multilateral global and regional parliamentary diplomacy in the Asia- Pacific, including the outcomes of the Regional Seminar on Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals for the Parliaments in the Asia-Pacific Region jointly organized by Vietnam's National Assembly and the Inter-parliamentary Union in Viet Nam in May, 2017, which has helped build confidence, mutual understanding, and expanding dialogue in a constructive and cooperative spirit towards the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG Goal 13;

Reaffirming the centrality of the APPF in inter-parliamentary activities in the Asia-Pacific, in fostering closer cooperation among member parliaments, promoting dialogue towards a common aim of peace, cooperation and sustainable development;

Wishing parliaments participated in deeper, more comprehensive and substantive engagements to respond to climate change, particularly for those forecasted to be the most affected by climate change from a parliamentary approach, promote synergy with governments to realize commitments related to sustainable development.

RESOLVES TO:

Call on Asia-Pacific national parliaments to pay more attention and increase joint efforts to respond to climate change, to be in line with the demands of a lowcarbon society in the context of limited science and technology resources; Asia-Pacific states should recognize the emergency state caused by climate change, thereby strengthening preparedness to reduce disaster risk and to improve response mechanism and resilience-related activities; including reducing the impact of climate change on small island states and vulnerable nations , and provide support for climate change refugees;
Stress the importance of implementing the UNFCCC, the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris agreement in the global effort to address the impact of climate change;
Request Asia-Pacific parliamentarians to step up legislative efforts in the formulation of legislation, policies related to respond to climate change in line with international treaties to facilitate the implementation of the UNFCCC, the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement;
Call on APPF member parliaments to encourage their Governments to mobilize sufficient financial resources to invest in renewable energy clean technology, energy conservation technology projects, demonstrating the responsibility with the international community to contribute to the prevention and mitigation of global climate change impacts, especially on Asia-Pacific countries;
Increase mainstreaming of sustainable development and inclusive growth components, goals in parliamentary legislative efforts and enforcement monitoring of Governments;
Encourage the APPF member states continue to renovate its operations, agenda, seek solutions to promote sustainable development, environmental protection, implement the Nationally Determined Contribution in Asia Pacific states to support the achievement of the long term temperature goal in the Paris Agreement./.