African civil society organisations championing for climate justice have criticised the Intended Nationally Determined Commitments (INDC’s) presented to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, calling them “weak, inadequate and not ambitious enough.”
“If you study carefully what has been submitted by the developed countries like, Russia, USA and EU compared to that from poor countries, you will clearly see that goalposts have been shifted to have Africa bare mitigation and adaptation costs, which goes against the principle of Common But Differentiated Responsibility and Respective Capacity (CBDR+C) of the Convention” said Sam Ogallah, the Programme Manager at the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) – the umbrella organisation that brings together over 1000 African civil society organisations.
At the previous UNFCCC negotiations, countries agreed to publicly outline climate actions they intend to take, geared towards mitigation and adaptation to the changing climatic conditions, in a pact that came to be known as Intended Nationally Determined Commitments.
But just weeks after the submission deadline, African civil society organisations feel that rich countries, which are responsible for global warming, are taking advantage of poor countries who are already suffering the effects of climate change.
For the complete article, please see IPS News.
The impact of climate change is posing a growing threat to peace and security. Germany is therefore putting climate and security on the Security Council’s agenda.
Russia’s economic development minister warned last week that the EU’s plans to deploy a carbon tax at the bloc’s borders will not be in line with World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules, just as Brussels doubled down on the idea of green tariffs.
Few places have suffered more from the COVID-19 pandemic than southern China, the region where the novel coronavirus was first detected in the city of Wuhan. But it turned out that the pandemic is not the only calamity to befall south China this year. The region has been inundated by heavy rainfall since late May, creating a risk of catastrophic flooding.
Natural resources-based conflicts are sometimes made complex by non-climate push and pull factors, like unemployment and political tension. These factors should be taken into account when developing and implementing a peacebuilding strategy, making sure all stakeholders are at the table – including those fueling the conflict. The online workshop ‘Integrating peacebuilding and climate change mitigation efforts in natural resource management’, organised by the European Peacebuilding Liaison Office (EPLO) and adelphi, looked into this complex issue.