Colombia became South America’s first country to submit its contribution to a UN global warming pact, setting out how it will slash greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to extreme weather.
The pledge outlined a 20% cut to greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 from a business as usual projection. That could rise to 30%, conditional on international cash to aid the mitigation effort.
But it warned the end of decades-long conflict, while welcome, could bring increased pressure to clear forests, jeopardising climate goals.
In its communication to the UN, the government said it had considered the “potential impacts” of “post conflict scenarios in different regions”.
“In the past, peace processes elsewhere in the world have been associated to negative impacts on the environment, due to, among other things, migration patterns that increase pressure on natural resources in the most vulnerable areas, often resulting in increased deforestation.”
But its climate strategy, such as better use of water resources, had “the potential to facilitate the consolidation of peace territories,” it said.
For the complete article, please see RTCC.
Resource consumption has grown exponentially over the past: between 1970 and 2010, the quantity of extracted materials has tripled. Not only the overall amount of resources extracted and consumed has risen rapidly, but also the diversity of resources has grown. While half a century ago, only a few materials such as wood, brick, iron, copper, and plastics were in high demand worldwide, today products are more complex and require a wide range of materials.
Times of war can result in rapid environmental degradation as people struggle to survive and environmental management systems break down resulting in damage to critical ecosystems. For over six decades, armed conflicts have occurred in more than two-thirds of the world’s biodiversity hotspots thus posing critical threats to conservation efforts. [...]
More than 4,700 delegates, including environment ministers, scientists, academics, business leaders and civil society representatives, met in Nairobi for the UN Environment Assembly, the world’s top environmental body whose decisions will set the global agenda, notably ahead of the UN Climate Action Summit in September.
Mid february, the EU's foreign affairs ministers welcomed the Commission’s strategic long-term vision for a climate neutral Europe. Ministers also called for urgent and decisive action to strengthen the global response on climate change and restated the EU’s determination to lead the way on accelerated climate action on all fronts.