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COP27: ‘Fossil fuels are a dead end’, ‘Adapt or starve’- are key takeaways from climate summit

Amid worsening food crisis in the face of climate change across the globe, COP27 discussed in detail the agriculture challenges and solutions. The sentiment echoed and dominated a day through conferences in Sharm el-Sheikh was that small-scale farmers from developing countries produce one-third of the world’s food, yet they receive just 1.7% of climate finance. Moreover, these small farmers are forced to cope with natural calamities like droughts, floods, cyclones and other disasters in different magnitude.

Keeping the theme of the day– ‘Adapt or starve’ in mind, the vital issues of adaptation, agriculture and food systems were paid much attention. Sabrina Dhowre Elba, Goodwill Ambassador for the UN International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), said we need to help these rural small farmers build their resilience to extreme weather conditions and adapt to the changing climate situations.

She said, trillions of dollars were made available to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic and its economic consequences and now the same kind of assistance is needed for climate change and for sustainable agricultural support, as we need food security for all. It was said that if developed countries fail to help rural populations and small farmers to adapt, it could have serious consequences, which may lead to longer poverty, migrations and social conflict.

The world leaders from developed nations have been called on to honour their pledge to provide the 100 billion dollar a year in climate finance to developing nations. 13 years earlier, at COP15 Copenhagen, they had pledged to channel 100 billion dollar a year to poor nations by 2020 so that they could be able to adapt to climate change and mitigate further rises in temperature all across the globe, but this promise was not kept.

The situations are horrifying. According to Zitouni Ould-Dada, Deputy Director of the Climate and Environment Division of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), around 828 million people go hungry every day across the globe, yet we throw away one third of the food we produce. Clearly, different countries need to change their mindset along with their production and distribution models.

Selwin Hart, special adviser to the Secretary-General on Climate Action, said to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement and prevent the worst impacts of the climate crisis, the world must abandon fossil fuels as quickly as possible. He said, ‘Fossil fuels are a dead end. We need to increase renewable energy deployment to around 60% of total energy capacity over the course of the next eight years.

This annual gathering of the United Nations Conference of Parties (COP) is certainly dominated by the presence of government delegations and climate activists, however business delegations including from India, are on rise in recent years, which indicates that all are getting increasingly concerned by the way climate change is creating havoc.

COP27 is an opportunity for the world leaders to show solidarity, take concrete & concerted actions, deliver on the legacy of Glasgow and protect the future of the planet, at a time when we need it the most. This year’s UN Climate Conference acquires much significance as it is taking place against a backdrop of extreme and highly unpredictable weather conditions worldwide, an energy and food crisis of extraordinary scale, and clamouring evidences coming from all around, suggesting that the world is not doing enough to tackle carbon emissions and limit global temperature rises, which endangers the future of our planet.

The UN’s climate scientists say, global temperatures have risen 1.1C and are heading towards 1.5C. If temperatures rise 1.7 to 1.8C above 1850s levels, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates that half of the world’s population could be exposed to life-threatening heat and humidity. Europe has just faced worst drought in 500 years, Pakistan worst ever flooding and then extensive heat waves in several parts of the world including India.

In 2015, 194 countries signed the Paris Agreement, pledging to limit global temperature. Earlier, COPs (Conference of the Parties) signed up to the original UN climate agreement in 1992. Happening from 6 to 18 November, 2022, COP27 is the 27th annual UN meeting on climate.

From India, Leena Nandan- secretary, Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change, delivered her special remarks at a session on ‘Long Term Strategy on Adaptation and Adaptation Readiness in India’, organised by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) at the India Pavilion at COP27. Underscoring the imperative need for finance for adaptation, she pointed out that developing a global baseline to enhance transparency and investor confidence is a crucial measure in enhancing adaptation readiness.

Noting that adaptation must be at the forefront of development interventions, she said, “The institutional arrangement, the action plan and resource mobilization, all have to walk hand-in-hand and see the macro picture through the same lens.” She strongly emphasised on the need for information dissemination to strengthen communities for adaptation.

Observing that 90% of disasters are related to weather and climate change, Kamal Kishore, Member Secretary, NDMA, and Indian Co Chair, CDRI Executive Committee, emphasized that disaster risk reduction can inform adaptation work. He observed that along with better forecast systems, a deeper engagement with the communities has been the key to disaster risk reduction.

 

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