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Human Rights Watch Condemns Israel’s “Deliberate” Military Offensives in Gaza

Mon, 11/18/2024 - 09:41

The United Nations delivers critical power generators to southern Gaza in an attempt to recalibrate water sanitation systems following damage from extensive Israeli bombardment. Credit: UNICEF/Mohammed Nateel

By Oritro Karim
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 18 2024 (IPS)

A new report from Human Rights Watch (HRW) postulates that Israeli military practices in the Gaza Strip constitutes as war crimes. Released on November 14, the new report details the scale of destruction in the Gaza Strip over a 13-month period, during which time the Israeli Defense Forces’ (IDF) undertook a campaign to enact “deliberate, controlled demolitions of homes and civilian infrastructure” that were conducted to drive millions of Gazans out of their homes and inflict as much damage as possible.

The United Nations Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories has said that “The Israeli military’s use of AI-assisted targeting, with minimal human oversight, combined with heavy bombs, underscores Israel’s disregard of its obligation to distinguish between civilians and combatants and take adequate safeguards to prevent civilian deaths.”

HRW also urged the International Criminal Court (ICC) to conduct an investigation. To properly abide by international humanitarian law, it is imperative for Israeli authorities to announce evacuation orders ahead of bombardments to minimize civilian harm. According to the report, the orders were “inconsistent, inaccurate, and frequently not communicated to civilians with enough time to allow evacuations or at all”.

Additionally, designated escape routes were regularly subjected to bombardment from the IDF. The widening of “buffer zones”, which are the areas between the Israeli-Palestinian border that are blocked off from Gazans, has been predicted to permanently displace thousands.

“The Israeli government cannot claim to be keeping Palestinians safe when it kills them along escape routes, bombs so-called safe zones, and cuts off food, water, and sanitation. Israel has blatantly violated its obligation to ensure Palestinians can return home, razing virtually everything in large areas,” says Nadia Harman, a migrant rights researcher at HRW.

On November 17, the IDF conducted an airstrike on a residential building housing six refugee families in Beit Lahiya. Gaza’s Ministry of Health confirmed that there were at least 72 civilian casualties from this attack, 30 percent of which were children. It is believed that many more civilians are still trapped underneath the rubble. This attack came only a few hours after two separate airstrikes killed 14 people in the nearby Nuseirat and Bureij refugee camps.

The IDF’s continued blockage of humanitarian aid has drawn immense criticism from humanitarian organizations and world representatives alike. According to the UN Special Committee, sustained military impediment of humanitarian aid, as well as targeted attacks on aid personnel indicates that Israel is “intentionally causing death, starvation and serious injury, using starvation as a method of war and inflicting collective punishment on the Palestinian population.”

Canada’s Foreign Minister Melanie Joly and International Development Minister Ahmend Hussen expressed their concerns for the millions of displaced Gazans, especially as the harsh winter months approach, which are expected to exacerbate living conditions. “This means that civilians – men, women and children – are dying because of the lack of humanitarian assistance allowed into Gaza,” they added.

According to a report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, the humanitarian situation in Gaza is dire and rapidly accelerating. It is predicted that famine is highly concentrated among populations residing in the northern sections of Gaza, which has been the most militaristically restricted. IPC describes Gaza’s current state as the “worst-case scenario”, adding that malnutrition, starvation, and disease are growing rampant in displacement shelters.

The Famine Review Committee (FRC) has warned that without effective action or intervention from those with influence, the scale of this “looming catastrophe” would likely “dwarf anything […] seen so far in the Gaza Strip since 7 October 2023”.

IPS UN Bureau Report

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Categories: Africa

The World Depends on a Healthy Southern Ocean

Mon, 11/18/2024 - 09:30

Credit: Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition (ASOC)

By Holly Curry
WASHINGTON, Nov 18 2024 (IPS)

It is a hectic week for UN environmental conservation talks with simultaneous meetings occurring around the world: Climate change negotiations are entering their second week in Baku, Azerbaijan and the G20 takes place in Rio de Janeiro November 18-19—so, it’s understandable other important issues could get lost in the mix.

But that doesn’t mean they are any less deserving of attention. Consider the effort to protect the Southern Ocean, the vast and icy body of water encircling Antarctica and home to the world’s largest populations of krill, a shrimp-like crustacean that penguins, seals, whales, and seabirds depend on for food.

Last month, while delegates to the 2022 Kunming-Montreal Biological Framework met for the first time to take stock of their goal to protect 30 percent of the ocean by 2030, talks at the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) in Hobart, Tasmania collapsed over a dispute about krill fishing limits, casting uncertainty over the group’s commitment to establish a representative network of marine protected areas (MPAs) in the Southern Ocean.

While the outcome barely made headlines, which is typically the case for CCAMLR meetings, scientists are now bracing for summer in the Southern Hemisphere. Last July, at the peak of the antipodean winter, a heat wave swept Antarctica with temperatures around 25 degrees Celsius above the winter average.

The anomaly follows nearly a decade of decreases in the average maximum extent of sea ice with potentially catastrophic implications for global sea level rise and the region’s fragile ecosystems.

For example, iconic emperor penguin populations have been exhibiting a disconcerting response to the unprecedented changes. The species relies almost exclusively on sea ice as a breeding habitat and forages on krill. If the current warming trend continues unabated, the penguins face a decline of over 90 percent this century.

A 2023 study found that ocean warming and acidification are impacting krill behavior and population dynamics in the Southern Ocean, including a southward migration toward colder waters. A drop in krill numbers not only threatens the region’s megafauna that depend on it, but also the global carbon cycle.

It is estimated that the region’s krill sequester around 23 million tonnes of the heat-trapping gas, equivalent to carbon services provided by the planet’s blue carbon habitats, marshes, mangroves, and seagrass.

Moreover, a CCAMLR report published earlier this year documented a steady increase in the amount of krill harvested over the past decade.

The annual average landings of krill from 2019 to 2023 were 415,800 tonnes, compared to 266,000 tonnes for the previous five years. This season, 14 vessels, including four ships each from China and Norway, three from South Korea and one each from Chile, Russia and Ukraine, registered for the fishery compared to nine in 2023.

Time and again, research has shown that fully protected MPAs, where fishing and other commercial activities are prohibited, are one of the best steps governments can take to help marine life build genetic diversity and biomass, making them more resilient to fishing and climate change. There is also a spillover effect that benefits adjacent ecosystems as well as commercial fishing.

That is not to say that a host of issues confronting the Kunming-Montreal framework, COP29, and the G20 are less important, but those agreements are on track for medium-to-long term action, while final approval for Antarctica’s MPA network is tantalizingly close.

Decades of research has already identified areas that will deliver the most conservation benefit per square-kilometer and, as part of the Antarctic Treaty System, CCAMLR decisions needn’t go through a laborious ratification process. The body’s 26 member countries and the European Union only have to give the proposals a thumbs up.

At last count, only 8.35 percent of the global ocean is currently protected. If CCAMLR approved all four proposals ready for immediate implementation—East Antarctic; Weddell Sea, Phase 1; Antarctic Peninsula, Domain 1; and, Weddell Sea, Phase 2—they would protect 26 percent of the Southern Ocean and nearly 3 percent of the global ocean. It would be the largest single act of ocean conservation in history and represent a major contribution toward achieving the global 30×30 goal.

It has become apparent that Antarctic marine protections urgently require high level attention from leaders before the crisis slips out of hand. In 2023, the G20 endorsed expanding MPA’s in Antarctica. They now have an opportunity to give the process a boost by calling for the approval of the aforementioned MPA proposals no later than 2026 in their “Leaders’ Declaration”.

The world depends on a healthy Southern Ocean, and the future of the Southern Ocean requires leadership now.

Holly Parker Curry is the MPA Campaign Director for the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition (ASOC).

IPS UN Bureau

Categories: Africa

COP29: Ambitious Climate Finance Goal is not Enough – the Funds must also Reach the Right Communities

Mon, 11/18/2024 - 09:14

Fati N’zi-Hassane. Credit: Natalia Jidovanu/Oxfam

By Fati N’zi-Hassane
NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 18 2024 (IPS)

The 29th United Nations Conference of the Parties (COP29) currently underway in Baku, Azerbaijan, is a key global milestone for agreeing on a new compromise to reduce emissions and to provide to the Global South the much-needed finance to address the devastating consequences of the climate crisis.

While these climate talks must aim at having rich countries step up and contribute the resources needed, they must also be about how to ensure that the funds actually reach the most vulnerable…because right now, they don’t.

A study by Oxfam has shown that only 0.8% of the directly reported recipients of climate finance in the Sahel could be confidently defined as locally-based organizations. The bulk of climate finance goes to international organizations, an indicator of the level of exclusion that local actors still face in directly accessing and managing climate initiatives coming from international public finance.

Oxfam’s interviews with over 100 organizations in the Sahel – one of the regions most affected by climate change – revealed that a myriad of obstacles prevent civil society organizations from accessing available climate funds.

Application procedures are often too complex, and favor large, well-established organizations capable of meeting the bureaucratic requirements such as financial statements, letters of approval, environmental and social guarantees, proven experience in managing large budgets, and registration documents that are imposed on them.

Credit: Karelia Pallan/Oxfam

Documentation and information sessions are often in English, a less accessible language for many Sahelians, not to mention the fact that information doesn’t even reach them in communities where access to the internet and electricity is limited.

Many funding mechanisms require a financial contribution from the organization, or financial guarantees in the case of loans, or even a multi-year financial balance sheet including audits and financial statements, conditions that smaller organizations are not in a position to meet. Short deadlines for application discourage many.

The program objectives that guide the use of funds are often imposed without taking into account the real needs of the target communities.

Marginalized by social norms within their own communities, women lack access to decision-making bodies, capacity-building opportunities, and land ownership, which prevents them from accessing financing mechanisms that require land as collateral.

In addition, finance tends to be less accessible in contexts affected by conflict, insecurity, and other multidimensional factors of fragility. This is mainly due to a risk averse approach by donors leaving out these areas from their geographical priorities, but also because of the high cost related to implementation, the difficulty to access project areas, and questions about the sustainability of investments.

Yet, it is exactly these fragile and conflict affected communities that are facing most urgent needs to address climate-related impacts and build resilience. One way of improving the flow of climate finance to such areas would be by creating more direct access mechanisms for local authorities and community-based organizations. Ultimately, they are the ones who are best placed to manage the barriers above.

Among the highly inaccessible funds are the Adaptation fund, the Global Environment Fund, the Green Climate Fund, and funds from financial institutions, such as the World Bank or the African Development Bank.

Civil society organisations (CSOs) and local communities in the Global South are leading on climate solutions in their contexts, for example, as first responders when disaster strike in their community, or as leaders rallying their community around disaster risk reduction or environmental conservation projects.

It is not only fair but also highly effective that they are able to access and manage as much as possible the international climate finance flowing to their countries. With the Loss and Damage fund, created following COP27, becoming operational, it is important to avoid the pitfalls of other climate funds and to facilitate communities’ access to this new source of financing.

Some simple changes that can improve climate finance access include removing barriers such as co-financing requirements, improving information sharing, making application processes simple and establishing specific quotas and direct access funding windows for national and local civil society organizations, especially the ones representing farmers, indigenous peoples, women, youth or people with disabilities.

The success of COP29 will be measured not only by the quantity of funds committed, but also by the quality of their allocation. Only funds that actually reach the communities on the frontline of the climate crisis and truly meet their needs will contribute to delivering climate justice.

Fati N’zi-Hassane is Africa Director, Oxfam International

IPS UN Bureau

Categories: Africa

Methane Mitigation at COP-29—Pathways to Climate Action

Mon, 11/18/2024 - 08:38

Roland Kupers, a lead architect at the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) International Methane Emissions Observatory

By Umar Manzoor Shah
BAKU, Nov 18 2024 (IPS)

Methane emissions have emerged as a focal point of discussion as global leaders congregate at COP29 in Baku to tackle the escalating climate crisis.

In an exclusive interview with IPS, Roland Kupers, a lead architect at the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) International Methane Emissions Observatory, outlined actionable strategies to curb methane emissions by 2030, the challenges ahead, and the crucial role of international cooperation.

The Methane Problem: Sectoral Challenges and Opportunities

“Methane emissions are not a singular issue but rather a collection of problems spanning five key sectors: oil and gas, coal, waste, rice, and livestock,” Kupers said. He adds that each sector requires tailored solutions.

“UNEP has prioritized the oil and gas industry due to its substantial potential for reduction.”

“The oil and gas industry could achieve a 75 percent reduction in methane emissions by 2030. It’s not only affordable but also feasible, given the industry’s access to technology, capital, and expertise,” Kupers said, adding that the waste sector also presents significant opportunities, although organizing mitigation measures in this sector poses logistical challenges.

UNEP’s approach includes creating detailed programs to address emissions in high-impact industries like oil, gas, and steel.

“Methane emissions account for a third of the climate footprint of steel production, yet they can be eliminated at a cost of less than 1% of steel’s production price.”

Data: A Cornerstone for Action

Kupers also underlined the critical role of accurate data in driving methane mitigation efforts.

“Data is essential for human agency. Without precise, measurement-based data, it’s impossible to identify and address the specific sources of emissions effectively.”

According to him, many existing datasets rely on emission factors derived from outdated studies. UNEP advocates transitioning to real-time, site-specific measurements to better target interventions.

“When you gather accurate data, you often find emissions in unexpected places, stressing the need for precise monitoring.”

Systemic Shifts in the Energy Sector

To align with the 2030 climate goals, Kupers argues for a fundamental transformation of the global energy system.

“While mitigating methane emissions is crucial, it’s not a substitute for decarbonization. The ultimate objective must be to eliminate fossil fuels entirely.”

He also highlighted the health benefits of reducing methane emissions.

“Methane, both directly and through incomplete combustion, contributes to significant local health hazards.”

The Financial Perspective

While climate discussions often center around the financial challenges of adaptation and mitigation, Kupers believes that addressing methane emissions, particularly in the oil and gas sector, is not a financial burden.

“The oil and gas industry is highly profitable and well-resourced. It has no excuse for not addressing its methane emissions,” Kupers said, adding that even oil and gas operations in developing countries operate in highly sophisticated, well-funded environments.

Responsibilities of Developed Nations

The methane issue differs from broader climate equity debates, Kupers explained.

“For methane emissions in oil and gas, the responsibility to act is universal. Whether in Nigeria, Argentina, or Indonesia, the industry operates with the same high standards and capabilities as in developed countries.”

This universality makes methane mitigation a “climate good news story,” as it bypasses some of the equity challenges seen in broader decarbonization debates.

Barriers to Progress

Despite decades of climate discussions, significant hurdles remain in addressing global warming. He attributes the slow progress to a lack of prioritization and awareness about methane’s role.

“Methane has only recently gained prominence on the global agenda. The science highlighting its importance has emerged in the past decade,” Kupers said. Policymakers are often unaware of methane’s substantial climate footprint or the cost-effective solutions available.

Key COP-29 Objectives

“UNEP has established ambitious goals for methane mitigation. The Oil and Gas Methane Partnership (OGMP 2.0), a UNEP-led initiative, currently includes companies responsible for 42 percent of global oil and gas production. Kupers urged more companies to join, with the aim of achieving 80 percent participation,” Kupers said.

Another critical initiative is the Methane Alert and Response System (MARS), which integrates data from a dozen satellites to identify significant emission sources. UNEP then notifies governments and companies of these emissions.

“Over the past year, we’ve sent 1,200 notifications to governments, but the response rate has been dismal—just 1 percent,” Kupers said, a disappointing lack of engagement that points to the need for stronger accountability measures at COP29.

The Stakes: Why Methane Matters

Human-induced methane emissions are responsible for a third of the current warming. Unlike CO2, which is often a byproduct of energy use, methane emissions are largely waste streams. This makes them easier to address and a critical opportunity for climate action.

“Methane mitigation is not just an environmental necessity but a low-hanging fruit. It’s a solvable problem, and we must seize this opportunity,” Kupers said.

IPS UN Bureau Report

Categories: Africa

COP29 Must Set New Global Climate Finance Target, Says UNDP Adaptation Head

Mon, 11/18/2024 - 08:06

Srilata Kammila, Head of Climate Change Adaptation at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Credit: UNDP

By Umar Manzoor Shah
BAKU, Nov 18 2024 (IPS)

Empowering communities, fostering innovation and integrating socio-economic contexts into climate strategies are crucial for effective adaptation to climate change, says Srilata Kammila, Head of Climate Change Adaptation at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

In an exclusive interview with Inter Press Service, Kammila shed light on the agency’s pioneering approaches to locally-led climate adaptation.

“Locally-led adaptation isn’t just about governments or international agencies imposing solutions,” she said. “It’s about engaging communities in designing projects based on their specific vulnerabilities, socio-economic contexts, and indigenous knowledge.”

This approach, according to Kammila, ensures that adaptation strategies address the disproportionate impacts of climate change on vulnerable groups, including women, youth, and ethnic minorities. For instance, during the design phase of adaptation projects, extensive stakeholder consultations inform decisions, blending climate science with local realities.

“We recognize that vulnerable communities often bear the brunt of climate change,” Kammila told IPS in an interview. “By involving them in decision-making, we not only ensure equitable solutions but also harness their unique knowledge and resilience.”

Innovative Models for Locally-Led Solutions

She says that UNDP’s Adaptation Innovation Marketplace (AIMA) stands out as an example of fostering local innovation. This platform, according to Kammila, provides grants ranging from USD 60,000 to USD 250,000 to support grassroots entrepreneurs and organizations.

“We’ve backed projects like floating aquaponics farms in India, benefiting over 5,700 households, and climate-resilient housing in the Sahel,” Kammila says.

She adds that beyond financial support, AIMA offers technical assistance, business advisory services, and peer-to-peer networking. These measures, she claims, help local innovators scale their projects and embed climate adaptation strategies into their enterprises.

“This model isn’t just about funding; it’s about building capacity. From farming innovations to agroforestry, we’re enabling communities to develop solutions tailored to their realities.”

Integrating Local and National Planning

A critical aspect of UNDP’s work, according to Kammila, involves bridging national adaptation strategies with local needs. National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) often guide overarching priorities, but localized plans dive deeper into region-specific vulnerabilities and opportunities.

Kammila cited Mozambique’s example, where the government developed local adaptation plans in 11 districts. These plans consider specific climate risks, such as rainfall patterns and crop requirements, to implement targeted solutions.

“Adapting national strategies to local contexts is essential. What works for a farm in Mozambique might not suit one in India. By downscaling adaptation plans, we ensure that local governments and communities take the lead in shaping their futures.”

Building Long-Term Resilience

The UNDP also collaborates with governments to integrate climate adaptation into broader development policies. This includes strengthening governance mechanisms, building local capacity, and ensuring climate finance reaches those who need it most.

“From ministries of finance to local farmers, everyone must be part of the conversation. Adaptation isn’t a one-time effort; it’s an iterative process. Risks evolve, and so must our strategies.”

UNDP has supported over 60 countries in developing NAPs, enabling them to integrate climate risks into their development agendas.

“This process not only builds resilience but also unlocks resources for sustainable growth.”

The Path Ahead

Despite significant progress, Kammila acknowledged the challenges ahead.

“We’ve laid the foundation, but scaling these efforts requires sustained commitment and innovation,” she said.

By prioritizing locally-led initiatives, the UNDP is proving that communities are not just victims of climate change but vital agents of change.

“Climate adaptation is most effective when it’s rooted in the lived realities of those it seeks to serve.”

Localized Innovation and Technical Assistance

Climate adaptation doesn’t necessitate high-tech imports from developed nations but should focus on locally appropriate solutions, Kamilla explains.

“Innovation depends on what’s needed in that context—whether it’s drought resilience or flood management. Technical assistance, technology transfer, and capacity building must include awareness of climate risks not just now, but how we know they will unfold.”

This approach involves extensive studies on climate risks, projecting potential impacts over five to ten years. She adds that UNDP’s Green Climate Fund projects, for instance, begin with consultations involving community-based organizations to ensure that adaptation solutions align with the needs of vulnerable populations, especially women.

Incorporating Gender Perspectives

Gender equity is central to UNDP’s climate adaptation framework. Kammila highlighted a project in Bangladesh that focuses on the Sundarbans region, where women are often disproportionately affected by climate-induced migration and socio-economic challenges.

“In the Sundarbans, men frequently migrate to urban areas, leaving women with limited resources and agency. The project, implemented with the Ministry of Women and Child Affairs rather than the Ministry of Environment, prioritizes women’s needs, ensuring they benefit from water and adaptation solutions,” Kammila says.

UNDP, she says, employs gender-disaggregated data to monitor how projects impact women specifically.

“For instance, if a project targets 200,000 people, we aim to ensure a significant percentage are women. This involves examining how women in households directly benefit from water solutions or other interventions.”

Challenges in Integrating Adaptation with Development

While UNDP supports governments in integrating climate adaptation into national development goals, the actual integration is the responsibility of governments.

This process, according to Kammila, is however fraught with challenges. She says the key hurdles include data and information deficiencies, as developing countries often lack observational networks and forecasting capacities critical for understanding climate risks at granular levels.

She also noted Institutional and Human Capacity Gaps as many Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and small island developing states (SIDS) struggle with limited expertise in adaptation planning. “

“Also, we have community-level awareness. Local governments and communities frequently lack understanding of effective adaptation strategies, necessitating education and training. And then we have financial constraints, as adaptation requires additional financing, often unavailable through traditional development budgets. Instruments like the Green Climate Fund (GCF) are vital to bridging this gap,” Kammila told IPS.

Mobilizing Climate Finance

“We’ve mobilized USD 1.6 billion in active portfolios, unlocking USD 3 billion in co-financing. This funding supports sectors such as agriculture, water management, disaster preparedness, and ecosystem-based adaptation.”

In practical terms, says Kammila, UNDP assists governments in combining their development budgets with climate finance to ensure resilience. For example, irrigation investments are augmented with climate-sensitive funds to make them adaptive. “We oversee and monitor the funds to ensure proper use, applying environmental, social, and gender safeguards.”

Expectations from COP

As the global community gathers for the COP29 at Baku, finance remains a central theme. Kammila acknowledges the urgency. “This is now or never. A major focus is on setting a new global climate finance target. The challenge is ensuring sufficient and timely resources for adaptation, particularly for vulnerable countries. Yeah, I mean, absolutely, it’s the finance COP. A big focus of this is, as you know, the new global climate finance target.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

Categories: Africa

Peace Talks—Delegates Turn To Climate Summit for Insights Into What Really Makes People Safe

Mon, 11/18/2024 - 05:55

Experts from diverse fields seek answers to the question of what really makes people safe at an event organized by Soka Gakkai International and partners. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS

By Joyce Chimbi
BAKU, Nov 18 2024 (IPS)

At a time when the COP29 summit is primarily focused on climate finance as a tool to cool catastrophically high global temperatures and reverse consequences for all life on earth, delegates—alarmed and concerned by the state of world peace and stability—are seeking ways to enhance safety.Delegates at a side event organized by Soka Gakkai International (SGI) and SGI-UK, British Quakers, Quaker Earthcare Witness, and Friends World Committee for Consultation (Quakers), Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), explored key questions on what climate action approaches contribute to a safer world for people and planet or risk a more unsafe world.

“We are negotiating in this COP for increased finance, yet everyone in this room who is a major fossil fuel extraction country, except Colombia, is increasing their oil and gas extraction. And outside, war is spreading, and finance for the military is at levels higher than at any time since the Cold War. We bring experts from various walks of life into discussions on what really makes us safe,” said event moderator Lindsey Fielder Cook from the Quaker United Nations Office.

There were experts on techno-fixed reliance and risks to techno-fixed reliance, military spending, peace activists, climate finance in fragile states, and also others who spoke about their lives, faith, and working with youth. They talked about peace, climate finance, and climate action in an existential time and how human activities are also driving existential rates of species extinction and chemical pollution as we know.

Andrew Okem from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and an expert in science adaptation, vulnerability, and impacts observed, “Science has given us a range of actions that we as a society can implement and can contribute towards making our society better and safer for all of us, such as building climate-resilient agri-food systems. This includes diversifying climate-smart coping and climate-smart practices. Rapid decarbonization is critical, hence the need to phase out fossil fuels and a shift to renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, and hydropower.”

Tackling issues of peace and climate finance amid climate and conflict-driven existential threats. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS

Okem spoke about the need for nature-based solutions, integrated water management, sustainable cities, and inclusive governance and decision-making. Emphasizing that any further delay “in concerted, anticipated global action on adaptation and mitigation will miss this great and rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a developed and sustainable future for all.”

Lucy Plummer, member of the international grassroots lay Buddhist organization Soka Gakkai International, which actively engages in society in the areas of peace, culture, and education, said she wanted to “amplify the COP16 message. We need to make peace with nature. I have closely followed discussions, including the round table on the global framework on children, youth, peace, and climate security.”

Saying that it was encouraging that the interconnection of climate and peace is being recognized and that there was great support for this initiative from states and other key stakeholders. But Plummer also felt that the most key issue was not mentioned at all—”our ongoing war with nature. It is a war because there is so much violence in the way that we relate to nature. We urgently need to disarm our ways of thinking about nature.”

“In yesterday’s peace talks and in all of the talks happening all around the COP29, this vital piece of the puzzle is missing. Humans’ separation from nature is the root of the climate crisis, and unless we rectify this and make peace with nature, we simply will not have the wisdom needed to resolve this crisis and prevent so much suffering. The Indigenous peoples know it and have been coming to these COPs every year trying to get us to understand this. Their messages have not changed. They get it, but for some reason we are not ready to hear it or we do not want to hear it.”

Dr. Duncan McLaren, a research fellow from the UCLA School of Law and an expert in technofixes and ethical mitigation options, spoke about his research that explores the justice and political implications of global technologies, including carbon removal. His recent work explores the geopolitics of geoengineering and the governance of carbon removal techniques in the context of net zero policy goals.

“Climate insecurity is all around us. We’ve seen floods, wildfires, droughts, and storms. Clearly, emissions cuts alone can no longer avert dangerous climate change. It is wishful thinking that we can avoid reaching 1.5 degrees Celsius with just more emissions at 8,000. So that is why I have been looking at other technologies and how they might work. Carbon removal can contribute to climate repair, the repair of humanity’s relationship with the earth,” McLaren emphasized.

“Carbon removal techniques can help us counterbalance recalcitrant emissions to achieve net zero. And more importantly, deal with the unfairly generated legacy of excess emissions. But as Professor Corrie and I show in our briefing paper for the Quaker UN Office, they will only make us safer if we keep the tasks they ask us to do small. Emissions need to be cut by 95 percent.”

Harriet Mackaill-Hill from International Alert spoke about climate, conflict, and finance and the need to define the COP29 New Collective Quantified Goal through these lenses. She said the linkages between “climate and conflict are well established. While climate is never the sole cause of conflict, it is very much a stressor. Climate will exacerbate various stressors for conflict. These can be human security, food security, or competition over natural resources, which will in turn very much create and worsen conflict. How can people adapt to the impacts of climate change when in extreme vulnerability, sometimes conflict, when livelihoods or lives are at stake?”

Deborah Burton, co-founder of Tipping Point North South, spoke about the intersection between military spending and climate finance. Giving a perspective on what makes people unsafe in terms of military spending and military missions, she said there is a need to understand “the scale of global military missions in peacetime and war and the associated scale of military spending that enables those missions.”

“They combine to achieve one thing and one thing only: the undermining of human safety in this climate emergency. So, the estimated global military carbon footprint, and it is an estimate because it’s not fully reported by any stretch of the imagination, is estimated to be at 5.5 percent of total global emissions. This is more than the combined annual emissions of the 54 nations of the African continent. It is twice as much as emissions of civilian aviation, and that estimate does not include conflict-related emissions.”

Shirine Jurdi spoke of her lived experience from Lebanon linking to climate finance. She said, “There is no climate justice during war, and there is no ecological justice during war. With every bomb that drops, the land, the sea, and the people suffer irreparable harm.”

Stressing that “safety is not only about survival and its destruction. It is about thriving in peace under skies that are blue, not filled with smoke or phosphorus bombs. To create a safer world, let’s stop colonization and redirect resources from destruction to building sustainable, productive communities. Let us invest in ecological peacebuilding and restore the lands and the ecosystems damaged by conflict.”

Note: This article is brought to you by IPS Noram in collaboration with INPS Japan and Soka Gakkai International in consultative status with ECOSOC.

IPS UN Bureau Report

Categories: Africa

Youth Protest at COP29: ‘We Will Not Standby to Inherit Dead Planet’

Sun, 11/17/2024 - 05:55

Alab Mirasol Ayroso making her speech during the Youth Action in the hallways of COP29, Baku. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS

By Joyce Chimbi
BAKU, Nov 17 2024 (IPS)

“We cannot rely on capitalistic logic to serve our fight for liberation. More investments will not build houses after floods because it’s not profitable. Corporations will not overthrow the industrial-agricultural complex that is completing our assault.”

So say the Alliance of Non-Governmental Radical Youths and People’s Rising for Climate Justice Youth that jointly led this youth action at the COP29 venue.

“That is why we are here to fight for the technical details to prevent the harm that money can cause. We cannot accept more loans and more debt. Climate finance cannot ‘financialize’ the climate crisis in power markets or fault solutions.”

Speaking to IPS, Alab Mirasol Ayroso said that the youth action is about their “demands as young people. We talked about fossil fuels, the phase-out of fossil fuels and more importantly, we talked about false solutions and militarization. Mostly, it’s really about recognizing the human rights in these negotiations, in these spaces where we can have real solutions if we only listen to the people on the ground.”

Drawn from all corners of the world, the youths have coalesced around issues that matter to them. Issues that they say are not a priority agenda for COP29 negotiations. They sang, chanted and, one after the other, made powerful speeches about climate change, peace and unity, human and environmental rights, the end of fossil fuels, climate debt and that rich countries and high polluters must pay.

Hajar, one of the speakers at the Youth Action, stressed that the “wealthiest nation must confront their colonial histories and make meaningful progress on reparation for loss and damage caused by their climate crisis. On demilitarization and its connection to finance stands a huge capitalist market that benefits from slaughtering, killing, and exploitation. Yet when we ask for money, there is always the same answer. There is not enough money.”

Ayroso says the young people can see through the smokescreen, hypocrisy, double speak, a lack of climate commitment and the youth agenda: “There is a lot of money. There is enough money all around, but we also know it is going to militarism, wars and genocides. There is simply no political will. This is why we refuse to be sidelined and silenced. We want the world to listen, hear us and our demands.”

“When the fire gets high. When the smoke rolls in. When the people rise. Can you hear us sing? It’s the end of fossil fuels. The end of fossil fuels. When the water gets high. When the flood rolls in. When the people rise. Can you hear us sing? It’s the end of fossil fuels. The end of fossil fuels. When the heat gets high. When the tide walks in. When the people rise. Can you hear us sing? It’s the end of fossil fuels,” they sang.

The youth want direct access for indigenous peoples, youth, children, workers, women, LGBTQIA and people with disabilities. Vowing to stand united at COP29 “until the last minute. We are in these halls to fight for our rights. There is no climate justice without human rights.

IPS UN Bureau Report

Categories: Africa

Children’s Needs Due to Climate Change, Conflict Often Ignored in Negotiations

Sun, 11/17/2024 - 05:43

In Sudan Children are facing climate and conflict challenges at the same time. Photo: JC Mcllwaine/Flickr

By Tanka Dhakal
BAKU, Nov 17 2024 (IPS)

As the world grapples with ongoing armed conflicts, from Ukraine to Gaza, advocacy for a more proactive approach to understanding and effectively responding to the needs of children affected by both armed conflict and climate-induced crises is growing.

A paper published in 2023 confirmed the link between climate insecurity and grave violations against children in armed conflict, including recruitment, use, and denial of humanitarian access. The Office of the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC) highlighted this connection in a study titled “Climate Insecurity Impacts on Children and Armed Conflict.”

The study suggested that decision-makers and practitioners should integrate a dual approach, incorporating both a climate lens and a child-centered lens into their work.

One year after this report was published, world leaders gathered in Baku, Azerbaijan, for the UN climate conference, COP29, and the call to integrate climate, armed conflict, and their impact on children has gained momentum.

Virginia Gamba, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC). Credit: UN Photo

The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC) emphasized the importance of addressing the links between climate, peace, security, and the children and armed conflict agenda.

“From the Lake Chad Basin to Syria, from Mozambique to Myanmar, in 2024, children have been the most impacted by both armed conflict and climate insecurity. Yet, children affected by armed conflict remain largely absent from ongoing climate, peace, and security discussions. We must change our approach to include these children if we are seeking inclusive and sustainable solutions,” Gamba said.

“Incorporating a climate perspective in our monitoring and reporting is also essential to better tailor our actions to end and prevent grave violations against children in armed conflict.”

According to UNICEF’s Children’s Climate Security Risk Index, nearly half of the world’s children—approximately 1 billion—live in extremely high-risk countries, where climate change contributes to conflict-related displacement.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) and UNICEF produced the Guiding Principles for Children on the Move in the Context of Climate Change, which provides additional explanation of children’s movement in the context of climate change. The report notes that while the rights of children displaced by conflict and climate change should be protected, governments and humanitarian actors often struggle to access and assist these children due to conflict.

The Special Representative calls on all leaders not to overlook children affected by conflict in climate, peace, and security discussions and to include them in financial commitments supporting sustainable solutions for both peace and climate.

Gamba added, “In a context where CAAC is often underfunded in humanitarian responses, supporting flexible funding for emergency response that considers both children affected by armed conflict and climate peace and security can have a multiplier effect and provide sustainable solutions to closely linked issues. We will continue to highlight these connections.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

Categories: Africa

Breakthroughs, Setbacks in COP29’s First Week of Ambitious Pursuit of Climate Consensus

Sun, 11/17/2024 - 01:31

Erik Solheim, former director of the UN Environment Programme and former Norwegian Minister of Environment and International Development at COP29. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS

By Joyce Chimbi
BAKU, Nov 17 2024 (IPS)

It has been a high-profile packed agenda in Baku, Azerbaijan, marked by milestone events designed to complete the first enhanced transparency framework and the new collective quantified goal on finance, among other top priority matters.

Besides the Conference of the Parties (COP 29) session, there is the 19th meeting of the COP serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol, the sixth meeting of the COP serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement and the 61st sessions of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA 61) and the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI 61).

IPS spoke to Erik Solheim, a former director of the UN Environment Programme and former Norwegian Minister of Environment and International Development, about the ongoing negotiations and what they mean to the global community amidst many pressing challenges.

“I think there is a breakthrough at this conference, which is not appreciated by everyone as it looks very technical, but that is the agreement on rules for the carbon market. The carbon market is much more likely to produce substantial money than the negotiations, which are somewhat stalled, and here you have a mechanism that will make it possible for the big tech companies in the world—for airlines, medical companies, and food companies—to provide for carbon offsets, which will be mangrove restoration in Sri Lanka, natural farming in Andhra Pradesh in India, reforestation in Brazil, and protection of forests in Guyana,” he explained.

Solheim, who is working on green programs in China and India, was referencing a critical early success as Parties already reached consensus on standards for the creation of carbon credits under Article 6.4 of the Paris Agreement. The consensus is vital as it will increase demand for carbon credits and, by doing so, enable climate action while ensuring that the international carbon market operates with integrity under the supervision of the United Nations.

The full operationalization of Article 6 has been a key negotiating priority at this year’s Summit. The COP29 Presidency has termed the consensus a game-changing tool to direct resources to the developing world. Finalizing Article 6 negotiations could reduce the cost of implementing national climate plans by USD 250 billion per year by enabling cooperation across borders.

“There are so many potential assets and you have an easy mechanism where well-off companies can provide substantial money. Those nations that caused the climate problem should pay for it, and those nations are in particular the United States of America, which has emitted eight times as much per capita as China and 25 times as much as India per capita, and if you compare to small island developing states or Africa, the difference is even bigger,” he said.

Solheim says the issues are difficult and complex and more so as the United States is “now telling the world that we have caused the problem, but you will sort it out. That is completely irresponsible and people are dissatisfied with that position. However, I also believe that this mechanism we have established for global climate finance is dysfunctional, very bureaucratic, and has a number of dysfunctional rules. So even if you put more money into them, they will not work.”

As things stand, he says the main avenues for climate finance are private investment, that China is providing enormous private investment through the Belt and Road, and that the West should follow up with private investment in difficult markets. The other avenue is the carbon market. On COP Summit setbacks and shortfalls, he says there is too much focus on diplomacy, which derails progress: “In Glasgow, there was an enormous quarrel on whether to phase down or phase out coal. It had no significance whatsoever on the world outside.”

“In Dubai, the issue was… in what way should we phase out coal? Again, hardly any impact on the outside world. It was not driving the change. It is something completely different. The price of solar energy has fallen by 90 percent and that of wind energy has fallen by 85 percent. So for any nation that switches from coal or fossil fuels to solar, it is not a cost. You generate income as it is much cheaper,” he says.

Stressing that only a complete change of the economic considerations is driving climate action everywhere in the world but at the same time, climate conferences are vital as they bring communities from all corners of the world together, creating an opportunity for business deals, exchange of views, as well as learning of best practices.

He calls for a change in perspective such as the one demonstrated by China and India, as “they are now world leaders in green transformation and not because they get money from someone else, but because they see it as a nation-building tool for economic development. I would like to see a change in the atmosphere, from talks to a focus on the political economy.”

“China last year provided two-thirds of all new green energy in the entire world. Let the rest of the world step back to Chinese levels; if possible, then we will be far on the way to solving the problem. Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India just launched a plan for 10 million homes and buildings in India with rooftop solar. Let other nations follow such workable solutions and the world will go very far and achieve desired progress very fast,” he stressed.

IPS UN Bureau Report

Categories: Africa

Climate Change Threatens Our Existence, Says Indian Spiritual leader Sadhguru

Sat, 11/16/2024 - 13:59

A sudden flurry of activity as Jagadish Vasudev, known widely as Sadhguru, emerges from an interview room in the COP29 media centre. It’s early days of the conference and there is energy and excitement at the venue in Baku. With his long flowing beard and blue turban, it’s clear that many journalists are keen to interview […]

Categories: Africa

Climate Finance Loans a Disaster for Climate-Burdened African Communities

Sat, 11/16/2024 - 13:52

Protesters at COP29 call for climate justice. Credit: Isaiah Esipisu/IPS

By Isaiah Esipisu
BAKU, Nov 16 2024 (IPS)

African environmental activists at the ongoing climate summit (COP29) in Baku have called on climate financiers to stop suffocating poor countries with unbearable loans in the name of financing climate adaptation and mitigation on the continent.

Just a few months ago, a wave of protests by young people rocked the East and West African regions, protesting against exorbitant taxes that were being imposed on them for the governments to raise extra finances to service foreign loans.

“We reject loans or any type of debt instrument for a continent that had no role in warming this planet; we indeed refuse to borrow from the arsonists to put out fire they lit to burn our livelihoods,” said Dr. Mithika Mwenda, the Executive Director at the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA).

According to PACJA, between 70 and 80 percent of all the finances from the Green Climate Fund (GCF) to African countries come in the form of loans, through intermediaries, and by the end of the day, only some lucky climate-burdening communities can access the money—estimated at about 10 percent of the total funds disbursed.

Dr. Mithika Mwenda during Africa Day at COP29. Credit: Isaiah Esipisu/IPS

“We demand these finances be directed first and foremost toward those who are most exposed to climate risks and least able to adapt, said Mwenda. “This means moving beyond fragmented and delayed funding and toward a reliable, affordable, accessible and timely flow of finance (in the form of grants) that reflects the actual scale of the crisis,” he said during Africa Day, an annual event organized by the African Development Bank on the sidelines of COP29.

Several examples mitigation and adaptation loans were touted during the event which would mean that African taxpayers would be required to repay loans of more than USD 1.6 billion.

“Some of these projects do not have footprints of the target communities in terms of prioritization,” said Charles Mwangi, a Nairobi-based climate activist.

“Communities need to take lead in decision-making and framing of these projects,” he said, noting that most of the finances are lost in expensive air tickets for consultants who are based abroad, hotel expenses and allowances.

On the contrary, Kenya is piloting a program known as ‘Financing Locally-Led Climate Action (FLLoCA).’ A 5-year initiative jointly supported by the Government of Kenya, the World Bank and other donors aimed at delivering locally led climate resilience actions and strengthening county and national governments’ capacity to manage climate risk.

“We are advocating for such policies that position adaptation at the forefront, not as an afterthought,” said Mwenda. “We amplify the voices of local organizations and grassroots leaders in these discussions, so global commitments reflect the priorities on the ground,” he said.

At COP29, discussions on the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) offer a critical moment to reshape global financing in a way activists believe will truly address Africa’s needs.

“It is essential that adaptation finance be needs-based, mobilized from public finances in the Global North, and be grant-based, with resources that consider the private sector as a third or fourth solution and not the first solution,” said Mwenda.

IPS UN Bureau Report

Categories: Africa

Robust Negotiations Needed to Push Rich Countries to Honor Financial Commitments

Sat, 11/16/2024 - 10:41

Cyclone Idah in 2019 caused catastrophic damage and a humanitarian crisis in Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Malawi, leaving more than 1,500 people dead and many more missing. Credit: Denis Onyodi / IFRC/DRK

By Aishwarya Bajpai
BAKU, Nov 16 2024 (IPS)

The irony is that at forums like COP29, dubbed the finance COP, rich countries often behave as though they can sidestep their financial obligations, Yamide Dagnet, Senior Vice President, International at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), says.

Yamide gave IPS an exclusive interview in which she shared her wisdom on the so-called finance clubs, the Loss and Damage Fund, the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) and COP29’s focus on advancing climate finance.

Reflecting on her recent experience at COP16, Dagnet recalled, “I attended the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Cali, Columbia for the first time. While there were breakthroughs for local communities and businesses, the process ultimately ended in disarray, particularly regarding finance.”

She criticized the lack of accountability from developed countries, stating, “In these forums, developed countries often behave as if they can sidestep their financial obligations. But that can’t continue. We must keep engaging and pushing for accountability.”

Addressing the influence of the recent U.S. elections, Dagnet remarked, “The elections overshadowed everything. Many developed countries feel overwhelmed, fearing they’ll need to cover for the U.S., which has historically fallen short on its commitments and is now attempting a comeback. The ambition of their public commitments remains disappointingly low.”

On the broader challenge of climate finance, she added, “Reaching USD 100 trillion in finance will require an enormous effort. What’s being proposed now simply doesn’t match the scale of the crisis.”

She explained that compared to a year or even a few months ago, many of the most vulnerable countries are focused on ensuring that funding is allocated fairly.

Yamide Dagnet, Senior Vice President, International at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).

Questions remain about how much will go to the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), small island states, and Africa. There’s still a push to direct at least half of the funds toward mitigation efforts. Accessibility and transparency in allocation are critical.

“This isn’t charity,” she emphasizes. “It’s about investment. The cost of inaction and non-investment far outweighs the investment required to address these issues effectively.”

Further addressing carbon credits, Dagnet remarked, “While there have been changes, transformations, and innovations—mainly driven by developed countries—carbon credits can play a role but shouldn’t be overestimated. There’s been a lot of unrealistic expectations about their potential, with talk of billions in funding. But then what? We need to approach this carefully and get it right.”

Dagnet emphasized the need for environmental integrity and equity to be central to climate initiatives, stating, “For these systems to be robust and equitable, environmental integrity must be at their core. Without it, there won’t be a fair distribution of benefits, especially for those who need it the most.”

She pointed to the negotiations around Article 6.2, noting, “While a common market can offer opportunities, there’s clear evidence of how things can go wrong. Every effort must be made to ensure it works effectively and fairly.”

Reflecting on the human cost of climate inaction, Dagnet shared, “I often think about Mozambique. They face adverse conditions year after year, leaving communities in a constant state of crisis. They can’t rebuild schools properly and live in tents for years, with their livelihoods repeatedly destroyed. Is this the future we want to accept?”

On the Loss and Damage Fund, Dagnet emphasized the importance of viewing finance as a means to an end rather than the end itself.

“What we see in Mozambique is a clear result of losses and damages. Following the breakthrough of establishing a Loss and Damage Fund, the priority is to ensure it is regularly replenished. While last year’s pledges reached about USD 700 million, it’s far from enough to provide adequate support.”

She highlighted the multifaceted nature of addressing loss and damage: “There’s a need to mitigate damages, adapt to extreme conditions like heat, and address the limits of adaptation. For example, with sea level rise, adaptation can only go so far before people are forced to migrate. These costs—tangible like relocation expenses or intangible like cultural and psychological impacts—must be addressed through diverse support mechanisms.”

Dagnet stressed the need for grant-based solutions designed with input from local communities.

“Solutions must not be purely top-down. Discussions within the Loss and Damage Fund should ensure funds reach frontline communities. However, some countries resist this approach, preferring centralized control, while local communities and civil society know they need direct access to funds.”

Innovative mechanisms for community benefit-sharing are crucial: “Big corporations, including pharmaceutical and tech companies, often use data from local communities without adequate compensation. Implementing a levy on such data usage could create a fund to benefit these communities. A percentage of profits derived from local knowledge should return to those communities, ensuring they see tangible benefits from their contributions.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

IPS UN Bureau, IPS UN Bureau Report, COP29, Baku, Azerbaijan,

Categories: Africa

Women, Indigenous Communities Must Lead Climate Finance Allocations at COP29—Plan International Global Director

Sat, 11/16/2024 - 09:19

Soumya Guha, the Global Director of Programs, Plan International. Credit: Umar Manzoor Shah

By Umar Manzoor Shah
BAKU, Nov 16 2024 (IPS)

Plan International, a global leader in advocating for children’s rights and gender equality, sees the need for women and Indigenous people to be at the forefront of climate negotiations.

Founded in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War, Plan International has spent over eight decades working to improve the lives of children in some of the world’s most underprivileged regions. While its initial focus was on broader child welfare, the organization has, over the last ten years, shifted its attention toward empowering girls, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds. This strategic pivot has an understanding that girls often face compounded barriers to education, health, and economic opportunities, especially in remote and conflict-prone areas.

Today, Plan International, says Soumya Guha, the Global Director of Programs, operates in 52 countries, supported by fundraising activities across 22 locations. Its programs target the most marginalized communities, focusing on holistic, long-term development alongside emergency humanitarian responses. This dual approach has allowed the organization to integrate its development goals with pressing needs, such as disaster resilience and conflict mitigation.

“We believe the first five years of a child’s life are critical in shaping their future,” Guha said. The organization’s “I Am Ready” program, implemented in countries like Laos, Tanzania, and Cambodia, addresses linguistic and social barriers faced by children from marginalized groups. By offering a ten-week intensive program that prepares children for primary school in their local language, the initiative has led to a remarkable 37 percent improvement in school attendance and retention rates.

In earthquake-prone areas, the organization has introduced disaster preparedness programs that equip schools to respond effectively during emergencies. “In the Kathmandu earthquake, schools participating in our safety programs were able to evacuate quickly, saving lives,” Guha said.

Beyond education, Plan International emphasizes sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), ensuring that young people have access to critical information and resources. Programs that support economic empowerment, such as initiatives involving school feeding programs, complement these efforts. In Sierra Leone, for instance, women’s cooperatives not only supply food for schools but also reinvest their earnings to establish educational facilities in underserved areas. This approach has created a ripple effect, fostering gender equality, boosting local economies, and enhancing educational outcomes.

Recognizing the disproportionate impact of climate change on marginalized communities, the organization integrates climate adaptation strategies into its education and health programs. In Asia, combating child marriage and addressing climate vulnerabilities are emerging priorities. “Child marriage is a persistent issue in Asia, and we are determined to tackle it alongside climate change challenges,” Guha said.

He added that operating in regions affected by conflict and disasters requires a nuanced approach. In Ethiopia’s Tigray region, where prolonged conflict has displaced thousands, Plan International works with local organizations to provide immediate relief while also supporting host communities. This dual focus aims to ease tensions and promote peacebuilding. Similar strategies have been employed in Bangladesh during the Rohingya refugee crisis, where the organization ensured that support extended to both displaced populations and the local communities hosting them.

“Technology plays an increasingly important role in Plan International’s programs, particularly in remote and resource-poor areas. In Sierra Leone, for example, a digital platform called Televret enables real-time feedback on the quality of school meals, ensuring accountability and timely action. In Ethiopia, augmented reality tools are being piloted to support children with learning disabilities by making educational content more accessible and engaging,” Guha said.

The organization plans to continue its focus on early childhood development, education, economic empowerment, and climate resilience. While its geographic priorities remain centered on Africa and Asia, it will also maintain a presence in South America, addressing deep-seated inequities that persist despite overall economic progress in the region.

Guha stressed the importance of international cooperation at COP29, particularly in climate finance. The organization advocates for ambitious funding targets, stating that developed nations should bear a significant share of the responsibility. “The most marginalized communities, including women and indigenous populations, must be at the forefront of climate finance allocations,” said.

IPS UN Bureau Report

Categories: Africa

CGIAR Developing Farmers’ Resilience in the Face of Climate Shocks

Sat, 11/16/2024 - 07:48

Ismahane Elouafi, Executive Managing Director of the Consortium of International Agricultural Research Centers (CGIAR). Credit: CGIAR

By Umar Manzoor Shah
BAKU, Nov 16 2024 (IPS)

As COP29 negotiations continue in Baku, agricultural leaders are pitching the need for climate-resilient and data-driven solutions to support marginalized farmers and low-income communities.

In an exclusive interview with Inter Press Service (IPS), Ismahane Elouafi, Executive Managing Director of the Consortium of International Agricultural Research Centers (CGIAR), discusses the impact of digital tools, precision agriculture, and low-emission food systems on achieving a sustainable and equitable food future.

Inter Press Service: How helpful are digital tools in supporting marginalized farmers?

Ismahane Elouafi: Digital tools offer immense potential, especially in bridging the knowledge gap between agricultural experts and rural farmers who often lack access to information. Over the past few decades, funding for traditional extension services has dwindled, so digital solutions in local languages can fill this void. Imagine a farmer receiving real-time advice on managing water, soil fertility, or disease in a language they understand—this could revolutionize small-scale farming. Additionally, precision agriculture, which tailors input needs to specific locations and soil compositions, allows for highly customized farming strategies that optimize both resources and yields.

IPS: Can you explain how precision agriculture works in practical terms?

Elouafi: Precision agriculture allows us to deliver exact inputs—water, nutrients, or fertilizers—needed for a specific plot. This approach minimizes waste and environmental impact, and it’s especially useful in regions where resources are scarce. For instance, if a plant needs 20 milliliters of water in one square meter but only 10 milliliters a few kilometers away, precision agriculture ensures we don’t overuse resources. Ultimately, the goal is to increase productivity sustainably, producing more output per hectare with fewer inputs, especially in a time where climate pressures demand we be mindful of environmental impacts.

IPS: How essential is biodiversity to resilient farming systems?

Elouafi: Resilience means that after a shock—a drought, flood, or even conflict—farmers can bounce back and continue production. CGIAR’s focus is to provide tools, technology, and genetic resources that make this possible. We’ve developed rice varieties that survive flooding and maize that tolerates drought, helping farmers maintain productivity despite climatic stressors. Another key factor is small-scale irrigation, which allows farmers to respond to drought by providing supplemental water, ensuring resilience and food security.

IPS: You mentioned low-emission food systems. How can agriculture contribute to climate goals?

Elouafi: Agriculture is responsible for about 33 percent of global greenhouse gases. By shifting to low-emission practices, we can greatly reduce methane and other emissions. For example, traditional rice paddies release large amounts of methane. However, alternative wetting and drying practices can cut methane emissions by 30 percent while boosting productivity by 33 percent. In livestock, using specific forages and studying animal gut microbiomes can reduce methane emissions by up to 60 percent. Agriculture is uniquely positioned to sequester carbon through practices like cover cropping and biodiversity, which is crucial in mitigating climate change.

IPS: Could internet and data use enhance climate security?

Elouafi: Absolutely. Digital access and internet coverage in rural areas can provide timely climate information, like rainfall predictions, which empowers farmers to make better planting decisions. With projects like Elon Musk’s nanosatellite network expanding internet access, marginalized farmers can increasingly leverage climate data. CGIAR also focuses on producing accurate data for the Global South, as existing climate models often rely on data from the Global North, which doesn’t reflect realities in places like Sub-Saharan Africa or South Asia. Our data can inform region-specific, actionable climate strategies.

IPS: How does CGIAR support innovations and resilience in vulnerable regions?

Elouafi: CGIAR operates the largest publicly funded international agricultural research network, with a strong focus on least-income countries. Our goal is to close the yield gap between high- and low-income nations by providing bundles of innovations: drought-resistant varieties, small-scale irrigation, processing improvements, and access to markets. By helping farmers integrate these innovations, we ensure they’re more resilient and have a steady income. Additionally, our research helps policymakers design better frameworks to support smallholders and incentivize sustainable agri-food systems.

IPS: What do you hope COP29 will achieve in advancing agricultural and climate agendas?

Elouafi: COP29 must carry forward the momentum from COP28, where the UAE’s Declaration on Sustainable Agri-Food Systems was endorsed by 160 countries. Agriculture, food, and water systems need to be central to climate discussions. As we look to COP30 in Brazil, with its expertise in regenerative and climate-smart agriculture, I hope we continue viewing agriculture not as part of the climate problem but as an essential solution to it. Climate adaptation in agriculture is non-negotiable—lives and livelihoods depend on it.

IPS UN Bureau Report

Categories: Africa

Building Resilience: Spotlight on Poorest, Rural Communities Amid COP29 Competing Priorities

Sat, 11/16/2024 - 07:43

IPS' senior journalist Joyce Chimbi in conversation with IFAD President Dr. Alvaro Lario. Credit: IPS

By Joyce Chimbi
BAKU, Nov 16 2024 (IPS)

Life in remote, marginal areas, drylands and deserts is increasingly becoming difficult because rural people are in the crosshairs of an unprecedented climate onslaught. A substantial number of lives and livelihoods are on the line, as nearly half of the world’s population, 3.3 billion, lives in rural areas and 90 percent of them are in developing countries.

For many of them, agriculture is their lifeline and yet, there are increasingly limited tools and resources to build climate resilience. Dr. Alvaro Lario, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and UN Water Chair, spoke to IPS about the urgent need for an ambitious climate adaptation goal and focus on how the poorest, who are being more impacted by climate change, can benefit.

“Most of the heads of state I speak to, especially in Africa, are very much focusing on how they can support their rural areas with many of the extreme weather events they experience, whether it is floods, droughts or extreme heat. That goes even beyond agriculture,” Lario observed.

“Climate adaptation, especially for rural people, is at the centre of our work. We believe it should also be at the centre of the discussions at COP29. We must unlock the finance and solutions to support rural women and men to adapt to extreme weather events. At COP we talk a lot about mitigation and what is needed in terms of the technology and the energy transition, but less about adaptation.”

Lario further stressed the need for discussions on envisioned goals in terms of “climate adaptation and also, more importantly, how that trickles down to the small-scale farmers and the rural areas. During COP, strong announcements were made, in particular an announcement of increased investments in climate finance by multilateral development banks. We need to see how this will be implemented. IFAD has committed to investing 45 percent of our Program of Loans and Grants over the next three years into climate finance, and that mostly means adaptation.”

IFAD President Dr. Alvaro Lario. Credit: IPS

Lario is a seasoned international development finance leader. He received a PhD in Financial Economics from the Complutense University of Madrid after completing a Master of Research in Economics at the London Business School and a Master of Finance from Princeton University. Under his stewardship, IFAD became the first United Nations Fund to enter the capital markets and obtain a credit rating, enabling the IFAD to expand resource mobilization efforts to the private sector.

On progress towards achieving COP29 top priorities, the IFAD President observed, “We only have a first draft of the negotiation and there is reference to adaptation. However, it is only the preliminary stage, so our ask is to ensure that we have a finance goal for adaptation, not just the overall goal for climate finance in general. We also need to start discussing what the financial vehicles should be and the instruments to mobilize the private sector.”

“We need to ensure the right structures or platforms that allow the private sector to come in are in place. At IFAD, we have been putting together a number of these structures, for example, with local financial institutions and with carbon credits, to attract private sector money into projects that benefit rural farmers.

Throughout his participation at Baku COP29, Lario has reiterated the need to send out a clear message that if there is going to be a successful energy and sustainable food systems transition, individual communities need to reap and feel the benefits. Emphasising that climate adaptation investments are not a sunk cost as they save lives, support livelihoods, and are key to addressing inequality.

According to UN statistics, as of 2022, four out of five people lacking at least basic drinking water services lived in rural areas. As Chair of UN Water, he has, in tandem, emphasized that extreme heat and too much or too little water are threatening the livelihoods of small-scale food producers who supply over a third of the world’s food.

Lario, for instance, says that a historic drought in Brazil has impacted coffee production. In Ghana, erratic rains cut cocoa production by half. And in Southern Africa, maize harvests are well below average due to an historic dry spell.

Stressing that “in many commodities and crops, this is also impacting food prices. Food inflation across developed and developing economies will always adversely impact those communities with lower incomes who are less resilient.

“So here in Baku, as world leaders work toward new climate finance goals, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is advocating for a truly ambitious commitment to support small-scale farmers. Investing in food producers’ resilience is not only the right thing to do—it’s an investment with a business and social return,” Lario emphasized.

IPS UN Bureau Report

Categories: Africa

Invest in Flooding Research Today To Protect Tomorrow

Fri, 11/15/2024 - 19:22

In the United States, in 2024 alone, there have been 24 climate change associated events with losses exceeding $1 billion each. Credit: Shutterstock.

By Esther Ngumbi
URBANA, Illinois, US, Nov 15 2024 (IPS)

The United Nations recently released the 2024 Nationally Determined Contributions synthesis report, just weeks before presidents, global leaders, climate scientists and activists convene in Azerbaijan for the 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference. The report reveals that current national climate plans are not sufficient.

This is particularly alarming considering how many countries, including the United States, were negatively and economically impacted by climate change associated disasters this year, including flooding, extreme heat, drought, and pest out breaks.

In the United States, in 2024 alone, according to NOAA, there have been over 24-billion-dollar climate change associated events that have causes losses exceeding $1 billion. Also in the United States, damage by flooding averages $46 billion a year. In Western Africa, flooding disrupted the lives of millions and resulted in overwhelming losses. In the greater Horn of Africa, millions are facing food insecurity and acute hunger due to repeated droughts.

Funding flooding research would help to cut down the devastating impacts flooding has on agricultural crops and the financial burdens that come about after flooding including government and insurance payouts to those that are impacted

Flooding, that ranks in the top three of the disasters, according to NOAA, has particularly hit hard in 2024. It has caused destruction not only of human lives but of livestock, poultry, and agricultural plants. Yet, to date, flooding news has only focused on the impacts flooding has on humans and not plants. Yet the recent flooding events in Spain, for example, have negatively impacted agriculture.

Worse still is the fact that many of these climate-change associated events often happen concurrently, producing catastrophic and compounding effects on livelihoods and economies.

Conversations surrounding COP29 will heavily focus on climate finance and the need to grow the finances being committed for climate change action. While finance can help reduce the impacts these climate disasters have on livelihoods and economies, those investments need to be coupled with investments exclusively dedicated to climate research.

Investing in emerging climate disasters such as flooding today will be crucial and boost climate resilience. Otherwise, in the future, food shortages will become more common and food prices more volatile, with the potential to exacerbate conflict over scarce resources.

Funded flooding research will not only provide foundational answers about the impacts of flooding, but also solutions. These multifaceted solutions range from identifying and breeding flooding tolerant crops, and finding sustainable products that can be applied to help plants and soils to recover well and boost their ability to defend themselves from pests, pathogens and plant viruses following flooding.

Similarly, flooding research could also identify combinations of crops that can be planted together to suppress flooding impacts while finding regenerative agricultural practices that do help to mitigate flooding impacts on plants.

Financial investments in flooding research are necessary. These can come through governments’ national science funding agencies.

In the United States, for example, the National Science Foundation, NOAA, and United States Department of Agriculture are big funders of research. To ensure that these emerging climate change associated stressors, particularly flooding and its impacts on agricultural crops are addressed via research, special proposal calls can be advertised and funds set aside to specifically fund flooding related research.

There are indicators that we are moving in the right direction. Recently, the BIDEN-Harris administration, through NOAA funded over $22.78 M to advance research of water-related climate impacts .

However, though encouraging most of the funded projects are on modelling and improving prediction of flooding.

For example, $7.6 M was awarded to fund work to create street-level maps of potential flood, improve models of how water cycles through nations rivers, all of which will help communities and businesses better understand the effects of extreme rainfall.

None of the projects focused on understanding and predicting the impacts flooding will have on agricultural plants or finding solutions to conquer the negative impacts flooding has on plants, soils and beneficial microbes that underpin plant health and productivity. These are areas that must be funded, too.

Funding flooding research and research surrounding building climate resilience would help ensure that lives are saved, infrastructure-related damage is cut down. Importantly, funding flooding research would help to cut down the devastating impacts flooding has on agricultural crops and the financial burdens that come about after flooding including government and insurance payouts to those that are impacted.

A 2024 climate resiliency report revealed that for every $1 invested in preparing for climate change associated disasters saves communities $13 in damages and economic impacts.

Similarly, according to the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, every $1 invested in prevention and preparedness can save up to US$15 in damages and economic costs.

Research has continued to provide sustainable solutions to climate change-associated disasters. Investing in flooding research today will prepare us for tomorrow and a future where flooding events are expected to increase.

Esther Ngumbi, PhD is Assistant Professor, Department of Entomology, African American Studies Department, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Categories: Africa

Human Rights Violations Against Women Rises in Afghanistan, While Taliban Enjoy Impunity

Fri, 11/15/2024 - 19:10

Richard Bennett, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, briefs reporters at UN Headquarters. Credits: UN Photo/Mark Garten

By Oritro Karim
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 15 2024 (IPS)

It has been three years since the 2021 Taliban offensive and the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan continues to grow more dire. Human rights violations are committed by the Taliban insurgent group on a frequent basis, with gender-based discrimination and violence being regular occurrences for millions of Afghan women. Gender inequalities are pervasive, with freedom of speech and mobility being significantly limited. The humanitarian crisis is exacerbated by widespread impunity enjoyed by members of the Taliban.

Shortly after the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, a number of fundamental rights were stripped from over 14 million women that reside in the country. In 2023, the United Nations (UN) dubbed Afghanistan as the most socially and culturally repressive nation for women’s rights in the world.

The Taliban has imposed widespread violations of economic independence for all Afghan women. Women have been removed from their positions in all sectors of the workforce, with limited exceptions in healthcare and education. However, most employers opt to hire men in these fields. Women-owned businesses such as hair salons were forcibly shut down.

“This isn’t about getting your hair and nails done. This is about 60,000 women losing their jobs. This is about women losing one of the only places they could go for community and support after the Taliban systematically destroyed the whole system put in place to respond to domestic violence,” says Heather Barr, associate women’s rights director for Human Rights Watch (HRW).

According to a study conducted by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), after the Taliban enforced these work restrictions, Afghanistan’s economic output fell by over 20 percent, making it one of the poorest countries in the world. Banning women from work has also raised rates of poverty significantly, with 96 percent of the entire population being at risk of falling below the poverty line.

Additionally, millions of girls and women have experienced their rights to education being stripped away after the Taliban took rule. Currently, Afghanistan is the only country in the world where women and girls are barred from secondary and higher education. According to a report from the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), there are approximately 2.5 million girls who lack access to schooling, which equates to 80 percent of Afghanistan’s population of young girls.

In the three years since the Taliban took power once more, they have erased decades of progress for education in Afghanistan, greatly threatening the future generation. “One thousand days out of school amounts to 3 billion learning hours lost or 1.5 million girls. This systematic exclusion is not only a blatant violation of their right to education, but also results in dwindling opportunities and deteriorating mental health. The rights of children, especially girls, cannot be held hostage to politics. Their lives, futures, hopes and dreams are hanging in the balance,” said Executive-Director for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Catherine Russell.

Freedom of mobility for women in Afghanistan has also been severely restricted. One of the 80 edicts established by the Taliban that target women’s rights bans all women from visiting public locations without the accompaniment of a male chaperone, referred to as a mahram. “The cumulative effect of the Taliban’s edicts and behaviors has largely resulted in the imprisonment of women within the walls of their homes,” said UN Women.

A dress code has also been implemented in the 80 Taliban edicts. If Afghan women are to leave their homes, they are expected to be covered from head-to-toe, with only their eyes exposed, usually in a burqa. Women are also prohibited from speaking in public. These decrees were met with significant backlash from Afghan women, humanitarian organizations, and world leaders alike. When asked for the reasoning behind this order, Khaled Hanafi, Taliban’s acting minister for the promotion of virtue and prevention of vice, explained, “we want our sisters to live with dignity and safety”.

“The Taliban are really taking a very significant step in terms of stripping away what autonomy still remains for women and girls. They’re creating a situation where it’s not even in the hands of women and girls themselves to make a decision about whether they’re going to resist the Taliban on this, what types of risks they’re willing to take with their own safety,” Barr said.

Over the past three years, rates of forced and child marriages have risen sharply. According to a report from UNICEF, the lack of education for women and girls has caused an increase in reported child marriage.

“As most teenage girls are still not allowed to go back to school, the risk of child marriage is now even higher. Education is often the best protection against negative coping mechanisms such as child marriage and child labour,” Henrietta Fore, former UNICEF Executive-Director, had said on the situation. Estimates from UNICEF also indicate that 28 percent of Afghan women aged 15-49 years old were married off in exchange for a dowry. There are also reports of girls as young as 20 days old being sold off.

Women who have protested these laws have been subjected to a host of human rights violations including enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention, and physical torture. For women who have had the vast majority of their civil rights taken away, the banning of peaceful protests and freedom of speech has been described as a crushing blow.

Nausheen, an Afghan women’s rights protester, spoke to BBC reporters of the conditions the Taliban subjected her to when they detained her one year prior. “The Taliban dragged me into a vehicle saying ‘Why are you acting against us? This is an Islamic system.’ They took me to a dark, frightening place and held me there, using terrible language against me. They also beat me. When we were released from detention we were not the same people as before and that’s why we stopped protesting. I don’t want to be humiliated any more because I’m a woman. It is better to die than to live like this,” she said.

HRW reported cases of women being detained in poorly ventilated rooms, with little access to food, water. Furthermore, many women reported being denied contact with their families. According to Amnesty International, “UNAMA (United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan” recorded 1,600 incidents of detention-related human rights violations between January 2022 and July 2023, half of them constituting torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment”.

The Taliban has enjoyed vast levels of impunity for their crimes against women for decades. This seems most evident in the last three years, despite their claims to work closely with the international community to ensure the wellbeing and protection of rights for all Afghans. Despite condemnation and pressure from the international community to reverse their bans on girls’ education and women’s rights, largely the Taliban has only continued to double down and introduce increasingly restrictive laws limiting the spaces for half of the population. Afghan women and girls have faced dire conditions at the hands of Taliban personnel and have had their fundamental rights taken away from them. Access to justice has been denied for thousands of victims due to the Taliban abolishing existing laws that would lead to them being investigated or persecuted. HRW has pointed out that the existing legislature was replaced with a “narrow interpretation of sharia law”, with previous judicial personnel being fired in favor of candidates that support the Taliban’s policies.

The international community has urged the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to look into these violations of international humanitarian law.

“Afghan women and girls have faced some of the harshest consequences of Taliban rule, and they have led the difficult fight to protect rights in Afghanistan. Unfortunately, their pleas to the international community to stand by them have not been answered,” said Barr.

In an address to the UN Human Rights Council back in June, Richard Bennett, the special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, warned of the severe social implications of a lack of justice for human rights violations committed by the Taliban. “Failure to effectively tackle the cycle of impunity only emboldens the Taliban’s oppressive regime and reduces the possibility of genuine & durable peace in Afghanistan and beyond,” he said. Bennet has also supported calls for the UN to recognize gender apartheid in Afghanistan as a crime under international law.

IPS UN Bureau Report

Categories: Africa

Walking with Wisdom: Whaia’s Mission to Bring Indigenous Knowledge to COP 29

Fri, 11/15/2024 - 12:16

Kaitiaki! Whaia says she is at COP29 to bring indigenous wisdom to influence policy and to provide guardianship (kaitiaki) of the climate negotiations. Whaia, who now lives in Aotearoa, New Zealand, was raised as an Indigenous Aboriginal in Australia, where through her community she led a life of cultural practices that protect the environment. “Our […]

Categories: Africa

From the Biodiversity COP16 to the Climate COP29: Building Equitable Accountability, Alignment, and Adequacy on Finance

Fri, 11/15/2024 - 10:43

COP29 will need to build on COP16’s successes and mitigate its failures. Credit: COP16

By Yamide Dagnet, Amanda Maxwell, Zak Smith, and Jennifer Skene
BAKU, Nov 15 2024 (IPS)

The United States just went through its most consequential election. While the outcome raises questions about what the re-election of Trump means for U.S. engagement in global climate talks moving forward (in view of his previous stunt), the game is still on, with or without him. Despite the challenges, local communities, cities, states, private actors, and the public more broadly have embarked on an unstoppable journey—upholding the spirit of the Paris Agreement.

The world’s biodiversity agreement just faced its first big test in Cali, Colombia, at the United Nations’ 16th Biodiversity Conference of the Parties (COP16). The results were decidedly mixed, with some breakthroughs but also critical missed opportunities. Ultimately, it left the international community with a suite of urgent priorities to address our rapidly closing window to halt biodiversity collapse and to align the protection of nature with action on climate change.

With countries rapidly pivoting to the UN climate conference (COP29) this week, they will need to build on COP16’s successes and mitigate its failures, prioritizing the equitable delivery of main “AAA” objectives that are relevant to both: accountability, the alignment of biodiversity and climate plans, and the adequacy of resource mobilization and access to finance.

COP16 in Cali was the first Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) COP since the December 2022 adoption of the landmark Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF or, commonly, GBF). The GBF set forth a plan to reverse and halt biodiversity loss by 2030 through the achievement of 23 action-oriented targets and to live in harmony with nature by 2050 by meeting four overarching goals.

COP16 offered a chance to make progress on the AAA objectives, as they are essential to delivering on the GBF, while also ensuring equity is built into each of them. These objectives manifest in some of COP16’s most notable outcomes, including the adoption of a work program and the creation of a permanent subsidiary body on Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPLCs) under the CBD, with a recognition of the role of Afro-descendants. The outcomes also included decisions on a historic and long-overdue fund to foster equitable benefits sharing from their knowledge.

Overall, however, the international community left Cali with a long road ahead for meaningful, enduring, and equitable implementation.

Accountability
A long history of failed promises on biodiversity cast a broad shadow as the international community began negotiations at COP16. None of the biodiversity conservation targets set for 2010–2020 were fully met, making the challenge of halting and reversing biodiversity loss in the following decades much harder. While parties to the CBD have had two years since adopting the GBF to revise their National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs), which are supposed to detail how they will fulfill their GBF obligations, only about 22 percent of countries had done so by the conclusion of the COP.

Developed countries have been particularly notorious for sidestepping accountability, especially on forest commitments. For decades, international policy has largely focused on addressing deforestation in the tropics while allowing the wealthier countries of the Global North to evade scrutiny for their own forest degradation. As countries chart their ambition under the GBF and related commitments at the intersection of nature and climate, voices from the Global South, including the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment, have begun calling for frameworks to drive more equitable accountability.

The GBF’s monitoring framework presented an opportunity to begin correcting this imbalance through the adoption of concrete, shared indicators to guide biodiversity protection and restoration. Instead, in the months leading up to COP16, negotiators began building a monitoring framework that risks cloaking business as usual under the guise of progress. Ultimately, without additional revisions and willingness to strengthen the indicators, the monitoring framework will be subject to the same inequities and weaknesses that have plagued policies for decades.

As countries look to build accountability, the enhanced transparency framework and global stocktake under the UN climate convention can provide models for how to bring more teeth into the CBD process and foster responsibility for all parties. In addition, wealthy countries need to ensure their NBSAPs are action-oriented and to hold themselves to the same standards on deforestation and forest degradation that they expect in the tropics.

There may also be opportunities to channel success elsewhere into greater accountability on biodiversity conservation. One example is the progressing ratification of the new high seas treaty, which is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for biodiversity conservation at a global scale. The treaty must be ratified by 60 nations to come into force and then be effectively implemented, both of which saw progress at COP16 with the announcement of Panama’s ratification during the COP and several countries confirming the signing of the treaty and announcing intentions to start working on the first round of high seas marine protected areas.

Alignment of biodiversity and climate efforts
Biodiversity loss and climate change are inextricably linked, requiring aligned, synergistic action. The UN biodiversity and climate conventions have historically been siloed, resulting in disconnected, sometimes conflicting decision-making and ambition. Last December, at the UN climate conference in Dubai (COP28), countries agreed to the first global stocktake, which emphasized the need to halt and reverse deforestation and forest degradation by 2030 and to align with the GBF.

COP16 created an opening for fostering that alignment and ensuring coordination and complementarity. Parties agreed to establish a process, with submissions of views from all stakeholders by May 2025, for coordinating between the three Rio Conventions (addressing climate, biodiversity, and desertification). This creates a pathway for ensuring that climate mitigation and adaptation and biodiversity protection and restoration mutually reinforce each other’s priorities.

At COP29, negotiators should build off of this leadership, elevating the need to integrate climate and biodiversity commitments and reinforcing the importance of an efficient, robust collaboration process. Particularly given next year’s ocean and climate summits in France and Brazil, respectively, which will thrust oceans and forests to the forefront of the climate agenda, it is imperative that countries set the stage for the alignment between biodiversity and climate commitments, create opportunities for the exchange of lessons and best practices between the conventions, and deliver more robust and ambitious climate and biodiversity plans as soon as possible, and no later than in a year’s time in 2025.

Adequacy of finance
As at COP15, the issue causing the greatest rift at COP16 was the question of how to fund the biodiversity conservation called for in the GBF. Since the signing of the GBF, positions—particularly divisions between developed and developing countries—have only hardened. The European Union announced in September that it was opposed to a key demand of developing countries: the creation of a new finance mechanism to distribute biodiversity finance. At the same time, the Ministerial Alliance for Ambition on Nature Finance released a statement from 20 Global South countries calling on the Global North to meet the commitments it made in the GBF to ensure that at least $20 billion per year is delivered from developed to developing countries by 2025 and that at least $30 billion per year is delivered by 2030.

Unfortunately, discussions on these issues started too late in the negotiations and dragged into the last day of the COP, until the meeting ended abruptly for lack of a quorum. The aborted talks adjourned with no agreed-upon strategy for increasing funds to finance nature conservation. Countries will now continue talks next year at an interim meeting.

This result is unacceptable. The vast majority of countries in the Global South will not have the resources necessary to meet their obligations in the GBF if the Global North does not meet its funding commitments.

The problem is compounded given that some of the key sticking points of biodiversity finance echo discussions about climate finance. For example, under the UN climate convention, there have been similar disagreements around appropriate finance mechanisms, such as around the creation of the Loss and Damage Fund in 2022. During those and other discussions, diverging opinions around sources of finance, transparency, and access to funding have stymied progress. Now, with the inconclusive end of COP16 on these issues, there is even larger, more entrenched distrust between developed and developing countries.

At COP29, countries need to agree to a new, ambitious climate finance goal to build the needed confidence among governments and the private sector to pursue more ambitious climate action that also drives the protection of nature; the richest and most-polluting countries must therefore dramatically enhance their efforts.

This is not charity—it is investment for economic and social justice, a matter of national, food, and energy security, and it is essential to building a climate-safer world for all.

Ultimately, all countries will get hurt by climate impacts with billions’ worth of damages. The richest countries are not immune to this (as we saw most recently in the United States and Spain), and they all need to step up. A deal on finance cannot just hinge on the United States. That was true before, and it’s truer now.

Looking forward
For both climate and nature, 2030 is a deadline that will dictate our future. By then, the international community will need to have implemented transformative change across all sectors, establishing climate-safe, nature-positive economies while ensuring equity and human rights.

Government progress, including at the subnational level, on accountability, alignment, and adequacy of finance is particularly critical given the unprecedented attention from the private sector on biodiversity and climate risks and outcomes. Companies and investors had a major presence at COP16—they are paying close attention to these negotiations and to the growing risks of failing to take action. Signals from the government are critical to pushing money flows and supply chains toward sustainable, equitable outcomes and building the structures that will transform business practices.

COP16 made important strides but ultimately left far too much on the table. At COP29 and beyond, parties need to renew trust and pursue their resolve to rapidly scale up and invest in holistic, equitable, all-of-planet approaches that propel action at every level of society and government, finally turning global commitments into reality on the ground. COP29 needs to and can deliver.

Note: Yamide Dagnet, Senior Vice President of NRDC International, Amanda Maxwell, Managing Director of NRDC Global, Zak Smith, Senior Attorney of NRDC International, and Jennifer Skene, Director of NRDC Global Northern Forests Policy, International, wrote this article. It was republished with the permission of NRDC International.

IPS UN Bureau Report

Categories: Africa

Africa’s Demands: Continent’s COP29 Irreducible Minimums Amid Release of First Draft Text

Fri, 11/15/2024 - 10:31

As expected, climate finance has taken center stage in Baku COP29 in a bid to renew the global focus on finance as a means to transform climate ambitions into tangible, sustainable action. African countries are losing up to 5 per cent of their GDP, with many diverting as much as 9 per cent of their […]

Categories: Africa

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