STATEMENT OF EL SALVADOR ROUND-TABLE ON CLIMATE CHANGE1

IN THE ABSENCE OF PUBLIC INFORMATION ON THE DEGREE OF PROGRESS IN THE PREPARATION AND
SUBMISSION OF EL SALVADOR STATES CONTRIBUTION, TO THE PROCESS OF NEGOTIATION OF A NEW
GLOBAL AGREEMENT ON CLIMATE CHANGE, TO BE ADOPTED LATE 2015 IN PARIS
The Salvadoran State has acquired international commitments and obligations under the United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change (the Convention), which is secondary law of the Republic, that in its Art. 4.1 (b) stipulates obligations regarding the
development of national and local mitigation and adaptation programs, and in its Art. 12, para. 1, 4 and 6, requires the submission of
National Communications for report quadrennially on the progress of compliance with these obligations; especially after 2010, when
in Cancun all developing countries States agreed to adopt national mitigation commitments and to submit biennial update reports of
their national greenhouse gas inventories and national mitigation actions,
As part of negotiations of a new global agreement to be signed within the framework of the 21st Conference of the Parties late 2015
in Paris, all member states of the Convention adopted the obligation to officially submit, during the first quarter of 2015, their
"Intended Nationally Determined Contributions" (INDC), which includes a package of policies and measures for mitigation and
adaptation, to strengthen existing commitments of each Party to achieve the ultimate objective of the Convention through ambitious
measures for real and effective mitigation, and appropriate adaptation. The failure to timely submission of INDC by the States,
referred to as developing countries, could become conditionality for access to technical and financial resources required for their
implementation.
As per the Inter-American Convention and the United Nations Convention against Corruption , the Salvadoran State recognizes that
transparency, the right of access to information, the right to citizen participation and the obligation of authorities to accountability
of governance, are suitable tools to prevent, detect , punish and eradicate corruption i. In that line, the Law on Access to Public
Information constitutes an initial step in the transformation of the state, whose effectiveness should be evaluated in order to
improve it, in terms of citizen participation, efficiency of public administration, fight against corruption and generation of a culture
of transparency.
The Five-Year Development Plan 2014-2019 (PQD) states as one of its objectives "Moving toward an economy and society
environmentally sustainable and resilient to the effects of climate change", being one of the strategies to achieve it "reducing
environmental and socioeconomic vulnerability to the effects of climate change and natural phenomena, increasing resilience of the
territories". In this subject, the PQD raises that coordinated and structured responses are required, such as the formulation of the
First National Climate Change Planii. It also states that "the State should strengthen citizen participation" and "provide a set of
public goods and services to ensure the rule of human rights that will guide its actions".
Taking fully into account that:
i.

Public power emanates from people and officials are its delegates, because of which citizens are entitled to know the
information derived from the government administration and public resources management, and therefore, public officials
are required to act with transparency and accountability,

ii.

Transparency and access to public information are basic conditions for effective citizen participation, which contributes to
the strengthening of public institutions and citizens themselves, to improve the quality of democracy and the full rule of law,

iii.

Failure to comply with the commitments and obligations under the Convention, could lead to the violation of human rights
enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic and international law and the imposition of barriers to access to resources that
would be available to address climate change,

Space formed in September 2013 by Salvadoran social organizations, to facilitate from a socio-political perspective, the exchange, debate and articulation of knowledge,
positions and proposals for mitigation and adaptation measures to face climate change; and it has the support of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in El Salvador
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iv.

El Salvador Round-Table on Climate Change is a space that fosters dialogue and debate, and in that line, the Minister and
Deputy Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Foreign Minister and Deputy Minister for Development Cooperation,
were invited to inform its member organizations on the degree of progress in the preparation and submission of the INDC of
the Salvadoran State; whereupon no replay was obtained from such officials.

El Salvador Round-Table on Climate Change URGES:

The Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (MARN), in his capacity as National Focal Point of the Salvadoran State to
the Convention, to:
(a) Report in a public, transparent and underpinned manner on the degree of progress in the preparation of the INDC the
Salvadoran State should officially present during the first quarter of 2015, considering that the presentation of the INDC by all
Parties must be made well in advance of the 21st Conference of the Parties in Parisiii,
(b) Justify through a public report, in case of foreseeing failure in complying the deadline for the INDC submission, setting out the
measures that would be taken to fill the gaps in form and content; ensuring its official presentation before October 1st 2015, so
that they are incorporated into the synthesis report on the aggregate effect of the INDC of all parties, the Conventions
secretariat will be publishing no later than 1st November 2015iv,
(c) Develop and submit, in an underpinned, clear and comprehensible manner, the INDC according to the adoptedv content and
form, and through the agreed mechanism for this purpose; based on inventories, assessments, and climate change, impacts,
emissions, adaptation and mitigation baseline and future scenarios; for which the MARN has received in advance the required
financial and technical-methodological resources,
(d) Justify the level of ambition of the INDC in the light of national conditions of the country and the need to contribute to the
achievement of the objective of the Convention, including a component on adaptation policies and measuresvi, given the high
vulnerability, and current and potential impacts of climate change in El Salvador,
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in the exercise of its jurisdiction to formulate and conduct foreign policy of El Salvador, to assist
and advise the MARN, the cabinet of management of environmental sustainability and vulnerability, as well as other relevant public
bodies, in policies, strategies, plans, programs and projects vii, specifically on the compliance with international commitments and
obligations on climate change; and to assume its share of the responsibility and leadership, required for this purpose, as
appropriate,
The cabinet of management of environmental sustainability and vulnerability, in the exercise of its function of coordinating
actions to prevent, mitigate and eliminate the vulnerabilities of the country against natural and anthropogenic phenomenaviii, to
secure the timely, underpinned and participative implementation and incorporation of the INDC, in the Five-Year Development Plan
2014-2019 and the National Plan on Climate Change; and ensure the allocation of required human capabilities and resources for its
effective and timely implementation,
The Technical and Planning Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic and the Secretary of Citizen Participation,
Transparency and Anti-corruption, in the framework of its powers in planning and monitoring the Five-Year Development Plan
2014-2019 -of which the First National Climate Change Plan is an integral part-, to facilitate, monitor and evaluate their effective,
transparent and participatory implementation, in accordance with national and international law, including compliance with the
commitments on climate change,
The comptroller bodies of the State to effectively assume its legal mandates to monitor, audit and evaluate the performance of
government institutions and officials that preside them, regarding compliance with the relevant legal mandates; and to issue the
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relevant legal opinions, including recommendations, to ensure the effectiveness of the law, including the commitments under the
Convention and the decisions adopted by its Conference of the Parties,
The Legislature to exercise its constitutional mandates to: (a) follow up the implementation of legislation relating to climate
change, specifically the commitments and obligations under the multilateral process of the Convention, which is law of the Republic
since 1994; and (b) supervise the work of the relevant public officials through special commissions of inquiry, discussions in the
standing committees and plenary sessions, reception, approval or disapproval of annual reports, interpellations of ministers and
issuance of recommendations,
The relevant non-governmental actors and sectors to address climate change to: (a) be aware of the increased threat of
climate change to the viability of the Salvadoran society, economy and territory; (b) undertake surveillance and demand
transparency and accountability on the effectiveness of the public service on the part of governmental agencies and officials; (c)
raise and implement proactively from their respective fields of action, criteria and proposals related to mitigation and adaptation
strategies, policies and measures, to effectively address the causes, effects and impacts of climate change; and (d) require the
underpinned preparation and timely submission of the INDC by the Salvadoran State -in the context of the global agreement to be
adopted in Paris late 2015, in articulation with the First National Climate Change Plan-, which should include the criteria and
proposals of the relevant stakeholders and sectors,
The government entities with legal mandate related to climate change, in the exercise of their institutional responsibilities
under the rule of law, to open spaces for citizen participation in governance through public, open and inclusive calls to convene
social organizations, actors and relevant sectors of the Salvadoran societyix; specifically, through free, prior and informed
consultations in the context of processes of identification, analysis, prioritization, validation, implementation, monitoring and
evaluation of the INDC prior to being formalized for submission to the Convention by the Salvadoran State for the different cycles which will eventually be established in the Agreement in Paris-. In this context, El Salvador Round-Table on Climate Change
reiterates its commitment and willingness to contribute, in such spaces and processes, with criteria and proposals that enrich,
underpin and complement the INDC, which should be part of the First National Climate Change Plan.
Adopted in San Salvador on the 20th March 2015

Decreto Legislativo No 534 del 2 de diciembre de 2010, publicado en el Diario Oficial No 70, Tomo 371 del 8 de abril de 2011
Plan Quinquenal de Desarrollo 2014-2019, Pg. 64, Cap. III: El Salvador y El Mundo, Tendencias, Cambios y Desafos. Secretara Tcnica y de Planificacin de
la Presidencia de la Repblica, enero de 2015
iii
En virtud de la Decisin 1/CP.19 (prrafo 2, literal b), contenida en el documento oficial FCCC/CP/2013/10/Add.1 y la Decisin 1/CP.20 (prrafo 13) contenida
en el documento oficial FCCC/CP/2014/Add.1
iv
Decisin 1/CP.20 (prrafo 16, literal b)
v
Decisin 1/CP.20 (prrafo 14) en el documento FCCC/CP/2014/Add.1
vi
Decisin 1/CP.20 (prrafo 12) contenida en el documento FCCC/CP/2014/Add.1
vii
Art. 32 del Cap. II, Ttulo II del Reglamento Interno del rgano Ejecutivo, emitido por Decreto Ejecutivo No 24 del 18 de abril de 1989, publicado en el Diario
Oficial No 70, Tomo 303 del 18 de abril de 1989. Reformas (38) mediante Decreto Ejecutivo No 57 del 28 de septiembre de 2009, publicado en el Diario Oficial
No 193, Tomo 385 del 16 de octubre de 2009
viii
Decreto Ejecutivo No 12 del 11 de junio de 2014, publicado en el Diario Oficial No 109, Tomo 403 del 13 de junio de 2014
ix
Poltica de Participacin Ciudadana en la Gestin Pblica, Secretara para Asuntos Estratgicos de la Secretara Tcnica de la Presidencia de la Repblica de
El Salvador, septiembre de 2013
ii