Joint Communiqué on the First
Meeting of the IEACF Network 

We, representatives of a number of countries affected by conflict, or fragility or facing severe humanitarian needs, met to discuss key priorities and foundational principles for a Network of vulnerable countries affected by conflict, fragility or high levels of humanitarian needs, which was announced at COP29 on Friday 15 November 2024 at a high-level roundtable organised by the COP29 Presidency. The roundtable comprised government representatives from several Network members, many of which are Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States, and key stakeholders from development partner countries, international organisations, international and regional financial institutions, including climate funds and was held during the COP29 Peace, Relief, and Recovery Day.

 

The Network is a country-owned initiative of the COP29 Presidency, and a number of countries agreed to establish a Network for climate-vulnerable. It marks a critical moment in the work to scale climate finance and action in countries which are affected by conflict, or fragility, or high levels of humanitarian needs. As representatives of these countries and members of this Network, we:

 

Highlighted the urgency of developing concrete solutions, approaches and partnerships to accelerate climate finance and action in climate-vulnerable and conflict-affected settings;

 

Acknowledged the timely common principles for effective climate finance and action for relief, recovery, and peace, which provide common language to our international community for conflict-sensitive climate action;

 

Emphasised the lack of climate finance flowing to countries affected by conflict, fragility or high levels of humanitarian needs, despite their acute vulnerabilities to climate change;

 

Recognised the increased political momentum which this issue has received in recent years, and reaffirmed pledges made across the Declaration on Climate, Relief, Recovery and Peace launched at COP28, which called for “an ambitious, immediate scale up of enhanced support” to these settings;

 

Welcomed efforts by the COP29 Presidency to ensure continuity and support delivery on concrete solutions on this issue, including through organising the COP29 Peace, Relief, and Recovery Day, launching the Baku Call on Climate Action for Peace, Relief and Recovery and establishing the Baku Climate and Action Hub;

 

Stressed that building climate resilience in places affected by conflict, fragility or with high levels of humanitarian needs will require a cross-sector, whole-of-system approach from governments, funds, and communities themselves, as well as the humanitarian, development, peacebuilding and climate sectors;

 

Underscored the need for a collective and coordinated voice to champion the needs of, and support efforts to develop climate resilience for, climate-vulnerable people living in countries affected by conflict, fragility or high levels of humanitarian needs.

 

Moving forward, the Network will:

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• Serve as a forum for scaling up climate finance and action in fragile and conflict-affected countries, and for maintaining political momentum to this issue:

• strengthen existing country platforms, and identify and initiate new ones, to bring together funders in support of aligned actions for national climate-resilient and peaceful development visions;

• create a learning network to build capacity and readiness amongst countries and funders to engage in fragile and conflict-affected countries, by exchanging information on effective actions to build resilience and access resources;

• mainstream the needs of climate vulnerable countries affected by conflict and fragility into national and multilateral initiatives,

• jointly advocate for key reforms in the international finance system to scale up finance for climate adaptation and resilience in these settings;

• work closely with other stakeholder groups and bodies, including the Baku Hub, to align efforts in support of scaling up climate action and finance in fragile and conflict-affected settings;

• be co-chaired by one Least Developed Country and one Small Island Developing State on a rotating basis.

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We agreed to organise the first meeting of the Network in Abu Dhabi within several months from the COP29 Peace, Relief, and Recovery Day. We will choose the first co-chairs of the Network and develop its action plan.

 

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