MANILA, Philippines — As the 19th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit begins Thursday in Bali, Indonesia, environmentalists called ASEAN heads of state to work together on common positions in the forthcoming climate change summit in South Africa this December.

Non-government organization ASEAN for a Fair, Ambitious and Binding Global Climate Deal (A-FAB) said Southeast Asian leaders should work together to address the problem of climate change.

“Extreme cases of flooding in Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos highlight the urgency and need for ASEAN to contribute to global and long-term solutions to address climate change,” Oxfam’s East Asia campaigns coordinator Shalimar Vitan said.

“The ASEAN Summit is the perfect opportunity for leaders of the 10 ASEAN countries to give their respective climate change negotiators the mandate to find and work together as Asean on common positions in the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) negotiations in Durban this December,” Greenpeace’s policy advisor in Southeast Asia lawyer Zelda Soriano said.

A-FAB has noted that ASEAN response to climate change, projected to severely impact Southeast Asia, has been lacking and there is no Asean unity in the UN climate talks.

Representatives from 194 countries are meeting in Durban, South Africa, on November 28 to December 9, to negotiate on a global climate deal.

The two most important and contentious aspects of the coming negotiations relate to developed countries’ commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions under a legally binding agreement, and to mobilize resources to fund climate change programs and projects in developing countries.