Addressing the UN Climate Summit in Durban, South Africa on behalf of Climate Action Network (a global coalition of climate organistions), I was excited, a little nervous and keen to play my part. This is what I said:

Thank you Madame Chair.

I am speaking on behalf of the Climate Action Network. We’d like to thank you and the Parties for opening this session and for the opportunity to take the floor today.

CAN respectfully urges the Parties, in the context of the adoption here in Durban of an ambitious legally binding second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol, to adopt a mandate for a legally binding instrument under the LCA here.

This mandate should result in the adoption of a legally binding instrument by 2015 at the latest. The world cannot afford to have a dead decade of climate non-action. 2020 or post-2020 is far too late and closes the window on keeping warming to 2C or lower. The failure to act on such a path towards a fair, equitable, and legally binding instrument that covers all parties will lead to alarming and unsafe levels of warming.

A clear and specific mandate in the LCA for a legally binding instrument should provide for a balanced outcome based on common but differentiated responsibilities, equity and the Bali Action Plan. An adoption by 2015 at the latest would allow for the outcome to be informed by progress in the 2013 review, and allow time for ratification and entry into force by 2018, at the latest.

The world is at a crossroads, with a global climate crisis on one side, and a path toward meaningful commitments on the other. With the urgency of climate change, by 2015 the commitments of all Parties must be inscribed in a legally binding instrument. Time is of the essence, which is why we urge your immediate collaborative action through legally binding and ambitious commitments.

Thank you Madame Chair.

Clancy Moore is blogging from the UN Climate Summit (November 28 – December 9) as part of Oxfam’s UN Climate Tracker project.