2008 Forum: human face of climate change.

In the aftermath of Myanmar’s Cyclone Nargis and in view of the ongoing global food crisis, the Forum’s President Kofi Annan called together 300 leading people from all sectors of society worldwide to urgently address what he calls “the human face of climate change”: the world’s poorest and most vulnerable populations affected by ever more frequent, severe and unpredictable storms, drought and floods.

The Forum 2008 pooled the expertise and experience of an uncommon combination of people from across a broad range of sectors: humanitarian, development and civil society, science and academia, business and engineering. Together the participants identified policy priorities and worked to develop collective solutions for boosting support to vulnerable groups at risk to climate change.

In solidarity with the world’s most vulnerable, the event called for the placement of climate justice as the guiding principle in the international response to climate change and as the basis for any future global climate agreement.

• An international conference exclusively focused on the human impact of climate change and on boosting assistance to worst affected poor and vulnerable populations.

• Through 14 plenary and roundtable sessions over two days, the event dealt with the climate-humanitarian issue from the following angles: Justice, Security, Agriculture, Risk Management and Insurance, Urban Planning and Design, Business Opportunities, Financing, Energy, ICT and Media, Health, Water, Practical Solutions, Disaster Risk Reduction, Global Cooperation.

• The event was attended by over 300 high-level representatives and leading people from a broad range of different sectors public and private, including government and military, humanitarian, development and civil society actors, media, climate scientists, academia and think tanks, as well as participants from the telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, insurance, finance, and engineering industries.

• Climate justice must be a priority on the international agenda, and an integral principle in the context of the ongoing negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to define a successor to the Kyoto Protocol for after 2012.
  
• Any future global climate agreement must include strong targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in order to realize climate justice by providing for adequate support and financing for the adaptation needs of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable groups.
  
• Governments must empower communities at all levels to participate in decision-making and policy definition for adaptation to climate change in order to ensure the most effective and appropriate measures are taken.