Connecting the world to fight climate change
Hosted by the UK The 26th United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP26) in Glasgow from 31 October to 12 November 2021 to accelerate efforts to achieve the objectives of the Paris Agreement and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Rising global surface temperatures are increasing the potential for droughts, floods, forest fires and storms to increase worldwide.
To overcome this climate crisis, the planet needs a united battle as if the world were divided by borders, the climate has no borders, it affects the whole world.
COP26 is the 2021 edition of the United Nations Annual Conference on Climate Change, and the parties have signed the UNFCCC – a 1994 agreement with 197 parties (196 countries and the EU).
The UN Climate Change Conferences are the largest international meetings in the world. The intergovernmental negotiations are complex and involve officials from all over the world as well as representatives of civil society and the global news media.
At COP21 in Paris in 2015, for the first time, a significant event took place: all countries agreed to work together to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees and to work towards 1.5 degrees to adapt to the effects of a changing climate. and make money to achieve those goals. The Treaty of Paris was born. Commitment to the pursuit of 1.5 degrees is important because every degree of warming causes a tragedy in which many more lives are lost and livelihoods are damaged.
Under the Paris Agreement, countries undertook to present national plans setting out how much they would reduce their emissions. These plans are called nationally defined contributions, or NDCs. They agreed that they would return every five years with an updated plan that would reflect their highest possible ambition at the time.
Limiting the temperature rise to 1.6 degrees is very important. Two degrees of global warming would have widespread and serious effects on people and nature. One third of the world’s population would be regularly exposed to intense heat, leading to health problems and heat-related deaths.
Nearly all of the warm-water coral reefs would be destroyed and the ice in the Arctic Ocean would melt completely at least once a year, with devastating effects on nature and communities. We cannot rule out the possibility that the irreversible disappearance of the glaciers of Greenland and Antarctica could trigger, leading to several meters of sea level rise over the centuries.
At 1.5 ° C the effects would be severe but milder. Risks of food and water shortages, risks to economic growth and endangered species would be reduced.
Air pollution, disease, malnutrition and exposure to extreme heat for human health would also be lower.
At COP26, Parties are invited to present ambitious 2030 Emission Reduction Targets (NDCs) equivalent to achieving a net zero by the middle of the century.
To achieve these stretching goals, countries need to accelerate decommissioning, encourage investment in renewable energy, curb deforestation and accelerate the transition to electric vehicles.
The climate is already changing and will continue to change, even as we reduce emissions, which will have devastating effects. At COP26, the Parties will work together to enable and encourage countries affected by climate change to protect and restore ecosystems, build defense, introduce warning systems and make infrastructure and agriculture more sustainable to avoid the loss of homes, livelihoods and lives.
In order to achieve zero-emission targets and adapt to protect communities and habitats, developed countries must deliver on the promise of raising at least $ 100 billion a year in climate finance.
The international financial institutions must play their part and work to unleash the trillions of funding from the private and public sectors needed to secure a global net zero to protect the environment.
The planet can only meet the challenges of climate change by working together.
At COP26, the parties will need to finalize the Paris Code of Conduct (the rules needed to implement the Paris Agreement) to review the devastating effects of climate change.
Source: ANI