Earth Today | UN boss backs SIDS in call for progress on Paris Agreement

FROM ATTENTION to loss and damage to scaled-up financing, UN Secretary General António Guterres has supported the cause of small island developing states (SIDS), as they prepare to head into the next round of global climate negotiations later this year.

“COP27 must demonstrate that the world is making progress on all pillars of the Paris Agreement,” he said, referencing the upcoming 27th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to be held in Egypt in November.

The secretary general was addressing the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) Leader Breakfast, held under the theme 'Championing our own solutions' on September 22.

“We urgently need to address loss and damage in a meaningful and credible way. Loss and damage are happening now – at 1.1 degree of warming. The floods in Pakistan have inundated a third of the country. We can only imagine the fate of small islands if we go beyond 1.5 degrees. Two degrees of warming is unthinkable and must be avoided at all costs,” he said.

The Paris Agreement aims to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change, including by holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

This is in addition to increasing the ability to adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change and foster climate resilience and low greenhouse gas emissions development, in a manner that does not threaten food production; and making finance flows consistent with a pathway towards low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development.

The AOSIS is insistent that the world's major emitters must 'do right by the world's most vulnerable countries which experience the worst impacts of climate change' at the November meeting.

“This was the consensus of 28 heads of state and ministers from the Caribbean, Pacific, and African, Indian Ocean and South China Sea regions when they gathered at the AOSIS Leaders Breakfast on September 22,” the entity noted in a press release issued in the wake of the event, which was hosted on the margins of the 77th United Nations General Assembly.

“Islands continue to deal with the devastating impacts of climate change with limited capacity to rebuild and recover,” it added, noting the importance of realising progress on financing for loss and damage from the COP.

GAME CHANGER

Also on the agenda for the breakfast was the Multidimensional Vulnerability Index or MVI – a new diagnostic tool being advanced by the UN and which could transform the global financial system and be a 'game changer' for SIDS.

“We are at a critical and politically sensitive juncture for both these objectives [MVI and Loss and Damage]. There are powerful forces mobilised against us who are content with the status quo. To succeed against them we must be united,” urged Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda and AOSIS Chair Gaston Browne.

“While the world fiddles, climate change marches on unabated and the hits keep on coming for our small island states. We must redouble our efforts and ensure the third pillar of the Paris Agreement is finally given its due in Sharm El-Sheikh,” he added.

The secretary general, meanwhile, had high praise for AOSIS, whose members he said “has long championed the highest level of ambition on climate, often leading by example” and who have also “brought solutions and built consensus”.

“Your voices, as climate leaders, problem-solvers and bridge builders, are needed now more than ever. The United Nations is your steadfast supporter and partner,” Guterres said.

“We will continue to push for more ambition and climate action by all – especially the G20, who account for 80 per cent of global emissions. We will continue to call for a renewables revolution, and for developed countries to provide developing countries with the finance and technology they need to transition to a net-zero and climate resilient future,” he added.

“We will continue to push developed countries to make good on their $100 billion climate finance commitment … for developed countries to provide clarity this year on their Glasgow commitment to double adaptation finance … to ensure your eligibility and access to that finance. You can count on the continued support of the United Nations for your priorities, and those of all developing countries,” Guterres said further.

pwr.gleaner@gmail.com