I don t want to protect the environment. I want to create a world where the environment doesn t need protection. -Anonymous.

Transcription

1

2

3 I don t want to protect the environment. I want to create a world where the environment doesn t need protection. -Anonymous

4 Paris Agreement Conference of Parties (C.o.P.) 21 Year: 2015 Was signed by nearly 200 countries Importance: Delivered the first truly global deal to tackle climate change. Goal: Keeping global temperature rise to well below 2C, and 1.5C if possible. But national action needs to be significantly toughened to meet to goal

5 Paris Agreement All the science, and the battering that extreme weather has inflicted this year from floods in India and Nigeria to hurricanes in the Caribbean and wildfires in the US and Europe, indicates that global emissions need to start falling urgently in the next few years. Limitations Set out principles, but not the details It is like having a brilliant new smartphone but no operating system.

6 Introduction 23rd annual conference of the parties (COP): CoP 23 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Scientists Location: Bonn, Germany Up to 25,000 are expected to attend Environmentalist Lobbyists Date: 6-17 November Aims: Prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system i.e. halt global warming CoP 23

7 Key countries Emerging economic powers China and India. Other nations Estonia, Peru, Ecuador, Iran, Mali, Ethiopia and the Maldives will also be in the spotlight for leading major international groupings. French president Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other leaders are expected to fly to Bonn towards the end of the summit to give the talks a final push and signal their commitment to fighting climate change.

8 Why it matters? But without sharp cuts to global carbon emissions, we can expect severe, widespread, and irreversible impacts for billions of people and the natural world. Above all: Bonn meeting will be vital in building the rules that will enable the Paris deal to work. Referred to as the Paris Agreement rulebook, and it is supposed to be completed by the end of 2018 at COP24 in Poland.

9 Why it matters? Other rules and procedures that need to be worked out include a) how should non-state actors such as the private sector participate in Paris Agreement implementation? b) What should be the accounting rules for climate finance? c) What can be done to enhance transparency so countries can hold each other accountable for fulfilling their commitments?

10 Why it matters? 1. It will define international standards for how to measure carbon emissions, to make sure that one nation's efforts can be compare to another's. 2. How countries take stock of what's been achieved and set new, more ambitious goals for curbing carbon emissions after 2020? 3. Money: experts agree that shifting economies away from fossil fuels and preparing countries for some of the inevitable consequences of climate change will require vast financial resources In 2009, developed countries agreed to commit $100 billion a year in climate financing for developing countries by The United Nations estimates that by 2030, developing countries will face costs of $140 to $300 billion a year to adapt to climate change.

11 Its different because COPs are always run by a designated nation For the first time this will be one of the small island nations that are most at risk from the sea-level rise and extreme storms that climate change is bringing. Fiji s prime minister, Frank Bainimarama, is the COP president, though the summit is being held in Germany for practical reasons. Fiji suffered damages of well over $1bn after Cyclone Winston struck in 2016, which is likely to focus attention on the contentious issue of compensation for climate damage and adapting to future threats, as much as cutting emissions.

12 Its different because Organising a massive global conference in Fiji would have strained the Pacific nation's resources and posed a travel nightmare for thousands of delegates. Bonn has ample conference space and is already home to the UN climate change agency. Germany has set aside a part of the 117 million euro ($136.3 million) budget for a fleet of bicycles and electric buses to ferry people between venues. Each participant will receive a bottle to fill with tap water a move organisers say will save half a million plastic cups.

13 What about Donald Trump? US withdrawal but it takes effect in 2020 USA is world s second biggest polluter and richest nation It provoked an unparalleled wave of support for the treaty. He shored up the world s resolve on climate action, and for that we can all be grateful. -UN s chief climate negotiator Christiana Figueres The US now seems very isolated: many US states, cities and businesses have pledged to honour the Paris deal and will have a high profile in Bonn. Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg has said he will pay the $15m in UNFCCC administration costs if the US government does not. Even the war torn Syria signed the Paris Agreement. Until recently Nicaragua was a holdout nation (The World Bank called it a a renewable energy paradise in 2013.)

14 Need of the hour The current pledges for carbon cuts by the world s nations would mean at least 3 C of global warming and severe damage. So the Paris agreement included a mechanism for the pledges to be reviewed and ratcheted up, but without setting the rules. The vital groundwork for this has to be done in Bonn before being finalised in Without serious preparation to build trust and agreement, deals don t get done, as the failed COP in Copenhagen in 2009 showed.

15 Talanoa dialogue The Nationally Determined Contributions NDCs that form the foundation of the Paris Agreement cover only approximately one third of the emissions reductions needed to be on a least-cost pathway for the goal of staying well below 2 C. The gap between the reductions needed and the national pledges made in Paris is alarmingly high. Drawing on a cultural principle of talanoa, which refers to a spirit of listening, participation, and empathy, Fiji will lead a Talanoa Dialogue in Many attendees at these talks consider that dialogue the last opportunity countries will have to commit to actions that will actually put the world on a path to meet the Paris Agreement goals and prevent levels of global warming deemed unacceptably dangerous.

16 Subscribe Share Like Comment Jai Hind