Category: Previous Issues Articles
Climate change is a matter of science and facts, not beliefs or opinions. The science is clear and the facts linked to climate change – like typhoons and droughts – have been so devastating that both secular and faith communities take up their stand to urge political leaders for ambitious climate action.
ECO highlights that after over two months of walking from the Vatican through seven countries, the Climate Pilgrimage participants have arrived in Katowice to call on the Parties at COP24 to respond to the recent IPCC report and take ambitious action to keep global warming to 1.5°C, in accordance with the Paris Agreement. Simultaneously, an Ecumenical Climate Pilgrimage from Bonn, has arrived in Katowice, also calling for bold action.
The Climate Pilgrimage consists of pilgrims from Asia, the Pacific countries, America and Europe, who have walked 1,500 km (nearly 950 miles) to draw the world’s attention to the dire effects of climate change already affecting their homes. For these pilgrims, climate justice is a personal matter. Some of the pilgrims are survivors of Typhoon Haiyan, a storm linked to climate change that killed over 6,000 people in South East Asia. One of them, AG Saño, dug the bodies of 72 of his neighbours from rubble in the wake of the storm while his brother, Yeb Saño, led the Philippines’ delegation to COP19 in Warsaw.
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With a flurry of new texts, ECO was hopeful that Parties had made good progress. But upon closer examination, ECO is very worried. Not content to undermine ambition alone, backsliding continues to broaden its reach to the whole rulebook. With each new APA text, ECO’s worries grow.
Where are the rights? Where are non-party stakeholders? Where are indigenous peoples? Where is gender? Food security? Just transition? Intergenerational equity? Biodiversity and ecosystem integrity? Just three years after the Paris Agreement was adopted, it seems Parties are suffering from amnesia.
Luckily, ECO is here to remind you: the success at COP21 did not come only from the fact that the Paris Agreement got all countries on board to tackle the climate crisis. It also came from the fact that they agreed climate action should be people-centered and rights based. Yet, three years later, mentions to human rights have mysteriously disappeared from the entire text of the rulebook. References to gender are equally elusive, including as it relates to adaptation, an area Parties explicitly agreed must be gender-responsive.
And then there’s participation. The participation of non-party stakeholders in nearly every APA agenda item is critical. ECO is watching carefully, and with concern as references to participation of non-Parties progressively disappears or finds itself almost all alone in brackets.
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In Vanuatu, we relish the good things in life. We in the Pacific Islands love the oceans and the forests of our natural environment, we are raised by our customs, and respect our traditional way of living. We see things and do things in our island fashion, the way that our ancestors, our grandparents, and our parents taught us. With respect for the land we live in, we take good care of our environment. With respect for our future generations, we preserve the resources our environment gives us.
The local woven basket symbolizes unity in Vanuatu. Made with pandanus leaves and centuries of time-honed skill, our baskets are more than tools for storing and carrying food – they reflect the beauty of our mothers and sisters and they keep our local knowledge to be later shared with our children and grandchildren. Our baskets tell the story of our traditional relationship with our environment. The natural world provides us with what we need, and we sustain and enrich our lives with those resources, weaving our culture and stories in harmony with our environment.
We do not have the term “climate change” in our local languages, but we are affected by it as people and as a nation.
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Switzerland
Does anyone know what all the fuss is in Katowice? It’s the 24th conference of the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Just checking that you all know what you are actually attending.
Unfortunately, when negotiations on climate finance accounting opened on Tuesday, Switzerland stated that according to their reading, the terms “New and Additional” (named so due to the new and additional changes climate change poses) did not make it into the Paris Agreement. Why is this important? Developed countries provide new and additional finance, which is required by developing countries to make action possible.
The basic challenge, and argument, is that if climate funds are not new and additional, developed countries can just relabel ordinary Official Development Assistance (i.e. ‘double’ or ‘triple’ dipping). That means that there is a risk that other development topics such as human rights, gender, education, health care, are getting less attention. And, there should also be a concern for Least Developed Countries (LDCs). There is a general trend where climate finance is focused on mitigation in emerging economies. That means that funds can be shifted from education in LDCs to mitigation in China, for example. But hey, you could argue that it’s not only Switzerland!?
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English description
There are good surprises and there are bad surprises. The end of the technical phase of the Talanoa Dialogue had a good surprise with some delicious cake to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the IPCC. The latest Warsaw International Mechanism (WIM) text had a bad, down-right horrible surprise. Notwithstanding the fact that we only have 12 years left to avert the climate crisis, all Parties could muster was to ‘note’ the SR1.5! ECO was quite perplexed as Parties have welcomed the last two assessment reports (review 5/CP.13 and 12/CP.20 if you have forgotten). So, how could it be that for a report that has put in stark contrast the difference half a degree makes and the need to act now, all Parties could do was to ‘note’ it!?!
And why are we not moving forward on the Indigenous People’s Platform? Indigenous Peoples’ struggles and the causes of the climate crisis have a long, intertwined history. Governments and fossil fuel corporations have collaborated to abuse indigenous rights and increased emissions pollution. Protecting and upholding the rights of Indigenous Peoples is the most effective and ethical way of mitigating climate change and adapting to its impacts. It is the low emissions pathway Parties
have been looking for.
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The transfer of innovative climate technologies should help developing countries leapfrog straight to growing in a clean and resilient manner, while addressing issues of sustainable development. The Technology Mechanism has had a head start implementing the Paris Agreement and ECO was happy to see the achievements so far at the Mechanism’s side event as well as events on the work of the Climate Technology Centre of Network (CTCN) and Technology Needs Assessments.
Yet, in the negotiations of the Period Assessment of the Technology Mechanism here at COP24, ECO has seen Parties taking a jump backwards; trying to shirk their responsibilities under Article 10 of the Paris Agreement, in which paragraph 6 clearly states that “support, including financial support, shall be provided to developing country Parties for the implementation of this Article”.
How can Parties expect developing countries to respond to the stark warnings from the IPCC 1.5 SR , to both rapidly cut GHG emissions in the next 12 years and adapt to the serious impacts of global warming, if they actively deny developing countries the fair opportunities and support to utilise the most appropriate and transformative technologies to leapfrog to inclusive and green growth?
ECO implores Parties to rekindle their cooperative spirit, and finalise negotiations under Article 10 here in Katowice; ensuring adequate support for gender-sensitive collaborative technology development to enable developing countries to leap towards resilience and prosperity, rather than being drowned by our rising seas.
Inuit experiences need to start being taken into consideration for the world’s future. When it comes to climate change, seeking our guidance on how to live sustainably will shape what happens to the Arctic. It’s time to listen to Inuit and Indigenous peoples of Canada who have already experienced life-threatening emergencies and are at the front lines of the disaster that is climate change.
Inuit have provided life-saving guidance to early European visitors who were unfamiliar with the severe conditions of this land we call home. The whole planet benefits from our frozen Arctic. Inuit still have much to teach to the world about how vital the Arctic is, not only to Inuit culture but to the rest of the planet.
Temperatures in the Arctic are rising faster than anywhere in the world, and Inuit are guides as to how everyone can live more sustainably. As Inuit youth, climate change is affecting the foundation of who we are. Our identity, our food, our language, our culture are all at risk. In Greenland, glaciers are melting and the risks of tsunamis from landslides is growing. It is becoming more dangerous, and the elders’ wisdom is being challenged by this changing climate and unpredictable weather.
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Globally, Indigenous solutions have set a precedent for successful action on climate change. In the Paris Agreement, we see recognition of this fact through the establishment of the Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform. This platform has three functions: knowledge exchange and sharing of best practices; capacity for engagement; and climate change policies and actions.
At COP23, the platform landed a momentous decision to adopt four principles put forth by the International Indigenous Peoples’Forum on Climate Change: i) full and effective participation of indigenous peoples; ii) equal status of indigenous peoples and Parties, including in leadership roles; iii) self-selection of indigenous peoples representatives in accordance with indigenous peoples’ own procedures; and iv) adequate funding.
Here in Katowice, we are seeking to operationalize this in the Facilitative Working Group, which includes the governance structure of the platform, the Facilitative Working Group (FWG), as well as the modalities for the development of a work plan.
These conversations have not been easy; as one negotiator put it: reaching “painful consensus”. Two key challenges include how to define “Local Communities” and whether to include the language “safeguarding the territorial integrity and political sovereignty of states”. Parties and Indigenous Peoples have spent many hours debating these two challenges.
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ECO is looking forward to observing the second set of facilitative sharing of views and the multilateral assessment workshops today. Since ECO can’t ask questions during these workshops, we figured we’d share our questions with you anyway.
ECO is eagerly awaiting news from Germany’s coal commission, while noting the discrepancy between scientific results (SR1.5) and Germany’s declared intentions at international conferences and its domestic climate policy. What measures is Germany planning in the energy sector to achieve its national climate protection targets by 2020? How many gigawatts of coal-fired power plants will have to be shut down to achieve that target? What is Germany doing to create the necessary framework conditions to reduce its transport emissions by 40 to 42 percent by 2030, as indicated in its NDC?
While Czechia is projected to meet its 2020 target, the planned extension of the Bílina open-cast lignite mine calls into question its ability to continue to achieve emission reductions and raises the possibility of future stranded assets. Phasing-out coal energy by 2030 at the latest will be critical for Europe and the OECD in responding to the SR1.5. When will Czechia announce such a phase-out and introduce measures to deliver it?
The share of coal in Hungary’s energy mix is minor and its fleet is old.
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