Pa Ousman Jarju, Chairman of the LDC group, provided this statement on the group's reactions to the final outcomes at CoP17 in Durban. 

The group of 48 Least Developed Countries (LDCs) left Durban in December with mixed feelings of satisfaction and concern. Despite the need to further elaborate some issues, key steps have been achieved, including the adoption of several important decisions that LDCs welcomed due to their importance and high potential to tackle climate change impacts on LDCs. Those include decisions to enable the operationalisation of the Adaptation Committee, progress made to start the process to enable LDCs to formulate and implement national adaptation plans, and the adoption of the governing instrument of the Green Climate Fund, which were all part of our key asks from Durban. Moreover, since the beginning of the conference, the LDCs were committed to support the adoption of the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, and Durban was also fundamental in securing this second commitment period, with Parties agreeing to undertake the necessary remaining work to avoid the gap after December 2012.

As a member of what was called the "coalition of ambition", made up of the EU, LDCs and AOSIS, the LDCs have played a fundamental role in achieving the outcomes of Durban. However, Durban did not settle in the central and fundamental issue related to mitigation. Without further progress, current mitigation pledges would place humanity on a path of global temperature raise of 3 to 4 ° C.  Durban did not conclude with an agreement that global emissions would decline in 2015 (or no later than 2017), and instead delayed steps that should be taken in 2013 to 2020.

A broad agenda is planned for and beyond 2012, and it is extremely important to make the new process productive: developed countries must provide their Quantified Emission Limitation and Reduction Commitment (QELRC) and identify urgent measures to raise the level of ambitions for mitigation.  Other developing countries will also need to clarify the assumptions underlining their mitigation actions, as well as the support needed to achieve them. The predictability and additionnality of the sources of climate finance are key, yet they have been left hanging for 2012. This question of climate finance support should be urgently discussed in order to ensure effective implementation.

Image: Least Developed Countries Delegation - courtesy of Brianna Craft, Brown University