The GLOBE Cape Town Legislators Forum on 3-4 December was opened by the Speaker of the South African National Assembly, Hon Speaker Max Sisulu.  The Speaker delivered a passionate address about the role of legislators in holding governments to account for the commitments they make internationally and for the need to focus on national legislation to address climate change.

Following Speaker Sisulu, GLOBE President, the Rt Hon. John Gummer, Lord Deben, challenged the United Nations climate change negotiations to recognise the positive movement that is taking place in national parliaments where we are seeing an unprecedented movement advancing and implementing climate change legislation. United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, delivered an address to the Forum ahead of his arrival in South Africa which was delivered by UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in South Africa, Dr. Agostinho Zacarias.

In the Final Statement, the 100 cross-party legislators from 15 countries gathered at the Forum challenged the UNFCCC to find a way to formally recognise national legislative efforts on 3-4 December 2011:

"(...) It is clear from the GLOBE Study that a new coalition of countries is emerging, including the EU and the major developing countries.  These countries are developing a legislative foundation that has the potential to drive the transformation of the global economy.  Progress should not be constrained by those countries unwilling or unable to act. (...) This momentum is a positive challenge to the UNFCCC and a way should be found formally to recognise national legislative efforts, to raise awareness of positive movements at the national level, to build trust, and to promote peer-to-peer learning. (...)" Click here to read the full Statement.

The parliamentarians also called on the UNFCCC parties to deliver an agreement on the legal form of a post-2012 agreement in Durban, "subject to developed countries delivering on a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol or taking on comparable commitments, we urge all countries to begin negotiations as soon as possible on an internationally legally binding instrument, based on the principle of equity and common but differentiated responsibility and respective capabilities to promote the further implementation of the Convention, for the period after 2020 that gives the international community a reasonable chance of limiting global average temperature rise to a maximum of 2 degrees Celsius".

The European delegation included parliamentarians from the French Assemblée nationale (Serge Poignant MP, Chair of the Economic Affairs Committee; Philippe Tourtelier MP, Vice-Chair of the Sustainable Development Committee; Bertrand Pancher MP; Member of the Sustainable Development Committee), the German Bundestag (Michael Kauch MP, Liberal Spokesman on Environment, Chair of GLOBE Germany and Vice-Chair of GLOBE Europe); the Hellenic Parliament (Constantinos Cartalis, Chair of the Environment Committee); the British Parliament (Rt Hon. Lord Deben, Chair of GLOBE International; Lord Julian Hunt, Former Head of the UK Meteorological Office, Joan Valley MP, Chair of the Environment Committee; Graham Stuart MP, Member of the Board of the Conservative Party; Barry Gardiner MP, Opposition's Envoy on Energy and Climate; Tim Yeo MP, Chair of the Climate and Energy Committee and Laura Sandys MP, Member of the Climate and Energy Committee), the Polish Sejm (Mr Miroslaw Sobolewski, Member of the Research Bureau) and the European Parliament (Satu Hassi MEP, Member of the Environment Committee and Vice-Chair of GLOBE EU; Kriton Arsenis MEP, Member of the Environment Committee, and Graham Watson MEP, Vice-Chair of GLOBE EU).