By Canol Ojukwu.
Dubbed “Africa’s Cop”, the 27th iteration of the Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC is scheduled for 6th to 18th of November, 2022. Themed “together for implementation”, the Conference returns to the African continent for the first time since 2016. Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, will play host to world leaders from all over the globe with one sole goal: to determine a formula for Climate Change Adaptation.
This conference comes at a time when the planet is reeling from the effects of Climate Change. Heat waves have become commonplace in traditionally cool areas all over Europe and Asia, while devastating floods have rocked Pakistan. Closer to home, multi-season droughts have led to the starvation of millions of people and animals across the Horn of Africa.
The overall goal of COP 27 will not be to come up with any new initiatives, as has been the case in the past. This time around, the world’s most influential individuals will gather to try to implement past commitments. The conversation at the conference will be centred on four key pillars: mitigation, adaptation, finance and collaboration. Mitigation attempts to keep global temperatures within 2℃ and closer to the desired 1.5℃ will be based on the agreements made in Paris. The Adaptation strategies will be a product of the Global Goal on Adaptation, one of the key takeaways from Glasgow’s COP 26. The leaders also hope to convince their international colleagues to honour their commitments to contribute an annual USD 100 billion to fighting climate change. However, none of this will be possible without the collective political will of all nations represented in the conference to combat climate change.
Even as the world sets its eyes on Egypt, questions still linger. Will this conference deliver on its promise of advocating for African nations, who contribute little to global greenhouse emissions but bear the burden of its impacts? Or will this be just another global conference where world leaders make huge promises that they forget immediately they’re home-bound?
That the organisers have chosen to put the leaders to task on implementing their previous pledges is a good sign. That they’re being tasked with saving the world while based in one of the most enduring civilisations in human history provides for a great backdrop. Ancient and present Egyptian society has survived and evolved through millennia of both good and harsh times. This might just be the perfect location to craft lasting solutions to climate adaptation.
What do you think, will this be the COP that replaces rhetoric with action?