Delegates at Climate Vulnerable Forum call on world leaders to attend Copenhagen Summit

Heads of State and Ministers from eleven nations that are most vulnerable to climate change are calling for U.S. President Barack Obama and the leaders of major emerging economies such as India and China, to personally attend the Copenhagen Climate Summit this December and “redouble their efforts at reaching a binding, ambitious, fair and effective agreement.”

Delegates from Kiribati, Bangladesh, Nepal, Vietnam, Kenya and six other countries met this week in the Maldives at the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF or V11) [2] to ask wealthy nations to acknowledge responsibility for the lion’s share of climate change to date. They want rich countries to provide financial and technical help, donating at least 1.5 percent of their GDP annually by 2015, to assist developing countries in their transition to a low-carbon economy.

The V11 pledge to demonstrate leadership themselves by committing to work toward carbon neutrality [3] in their own economies, as a good-faith contribution towards finding a global solution to climate change. These eleven nations adopted a groundbreaking declaration at the Forum, urging all countries to “follow the moral leadership shown by the Republic of Maldives by voluntarily committing to achieving carbon neutrality.”

Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed, who hosted the summit, said: “We want to show an example to the world by unilaterally adopting green development. We want to show the way by committing to carbon neutrality.”  “Leadership is not about following public opinion but leading it,” Nasheed said.

Countries that embrace green economic development will be “the winners of the 21st Century,” the V11 declared.

In order to reach a strong, legally-binding agreement in Copenhagen, the V11 are calling on world leaders to come to Denmark personally to ensure the deal is done. They also reiterated the need for an ambitious financial package for developing countries to be agreed at Copenhagen.

“The world’s expectations for a climate treaty in Copenhagen are rising and leaders around the world need to understand that failure will come at a huge price,” said Kim Carstensen, the head of WWF Global Climate Initiative, upon hearing of the V11 declaration.

The V11 nations include: Bangladesh, Barbados, Bhutan, Ghana, Kenya, Kiribati, Maldives, Nepal, Rwanda, Tanzania and Vietnam.