ECO is concerned about the executive committee of the Warsaw International Mechanism, the ExCom. It seems to be suddenly waking up from a long slumber and is confused about its role. It was established in 2013 at COP19 in Warsaw and has progressed at a snail’s pace since then. Its inability to establish an Expert Group on Action and Support until 2020 is a case in point. Despite this, the ExCom has done excellent work under its first two mandates, enhancing knowledge and strengthening dialogue, coordination, coherence and synergies. But it has failed on its third mandate, the mandate that ECO considers the most important: enhancing action and support, including finance, technology and capacity building, to address loss and damage.
The ExCom has been working hard and has a very important function as the executive committee of the WIM, but it cannot do everything. It’s like Batman without Robin: Robin, in this case, being the Advisory Board of the Santiago Network. The ExCom is a political body that leads, but the SNLD is meant to be the operational body that gets the work done. Its approach is inclusive; It is accountable to the UNFCCC for delivering its work, and it is led by developing countries to ensure that its efforts are targeted where they are needed the most and reaches the people currently being overlooked by the current international system.
Civil society organizations and developing country negotiators appreciate the work of the ExCom, but the ExCom cannot do it all alone. We need Robin! We need an Advisory Board of the Santiago Network. With that, we could leave COP27 having made real progress.