Belmopan. April 17, 2020. 11:39 a.m.
The Government of Belize, in its capacity as Chair of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), will host the Placencia Ambition Forum from April 20-22, 2020.
The Placencia Ambition Forum will bring together major actors in the climate change negotiations around the central theme of increasing ambition and safeguarding the Paris Agreement.
Prime Minister the Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow will be the keynote speaker at the High-Level Opening Session of the virtual Forum, which will also include inter alia, high-level messages from the President of COP25, the Secretary General of the United Nations, and the UNFCCC Executive Secretary.
The Forum will undertake practical discussions on opportunities for ambitious low-carbon development and adaptation in the areas of energy, transport, adaptation and resilience building, and finance. It will span multiple time zones and regions, with participants from governments, international organizations, NGOs, academia, indigenous groups, and the private sector. The Forum is organized in partnership with the Government of the United Kingdom, Climate Analytics, NDC Partnership, Climate Ambition Support Alliance, Wilton Park and Independent Diplomat.
As the first major climate ambition event this year, the Forum will spotlight the importance of “Keeping the Drumbeat of Action Alive,” as the global community contends with the most consequential health pandemic in the century. The current COVID-19 pandemic is a systemic crisis that both underscores the vulnerabilities of small island and low-lying coastal developing states and the potential for decisive and ambitious global action. The same sense of urgency should be applied to the climate crisis.
The closing of the Forum on April 22, 2020, will coincide with Earth Day and will feature inter alia, messages from Hon. Omar Figueroa, Minister of Fisheries, Forestry, the Environment and Sustainable, and the President of COP26.
Learn more about the virtual staging of the Placencia Ambition Forum and tune into the public segments via www.aosis.org. Follow @AOSISChair for regular updates and engage using #SIDSLead on Twitter.
