Strong political declaration at Marrakech climate conference

The Times of India , Saturday, November 19, 2016
Correspondent : Vishwa Mohan
MARRAKECH, MOROCCO: Sending a clear message to climate sceptics, the UN climate change conference has come out with an 'action proclamation', saying the worldwide momentum on climate change is "irreversible" as it is being driven not only by governments, but also by science, business and global action of all types at every level.

The proclamation, a kind of political call and reiteration of the Paris Agreement, has also called for "urgently raising ambition and strengthening cooperation" among nations to close the gap between current emission trajectories and the pathway needed to keep the average global temperature rise within 2 degree Celsius by 2100 from the pre-industrial levels.

The political call - Marrakech Action Proclamation (MAP) for Our Climate and Sustainable Development - was issued on late Thursday evening after days of consultations among nations and participating ministers. It is clearly meant to tell the global community that the nations are united, no matter what the US will do during Trump era, and resolved to implement the Paris Agreement with "highest political commitment".

Accordingly, the final version of the MAP keeps all the points in it - be it financial commitment of rich nations to mobilize US $100 billion by 2020 and the concerns of the developing countries over the issue of the developed countries' pre-2020 climate actions including assigned emissions cut for them till 2020 under the Kyoto Protocol.

"We the developed country parties (countries) reaffirm our US $$100 billion mobilization goal. We, unanimously, call for further climate action and support, well in advance of 2020, taking into account the specific needs and special circumstances of developing countries, the least developed countries and those particularly vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change", said the MAP.

While calling the global momentum on climate change as "irreversible", it said, "Our task now is to rapidly build on that momentum, together, moving forward purposefully to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to foster adaptation efforts, thereby benefiting and supporting the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals".

The final version of the MAP, issued on Thursday evening, is a much improved versions of the two previous texts which were informally circulated among member countries for suggestions so that their points can be incorporated before its unanimous acceptance.

Since the governments alone cannot implement the Paris Agreement on their own, the MAP calls the private players including business enterprises to pitch in more vigorously to fight the challenges of climate change by moving on their clean energy path. It said, "We, collectively, call on all non-state actors to join us for immediate and ambitious action and mobilization, building on their important achievements, noting the many initiatives and the Marrakech Partnership for Global Climate Action itself, launched in Marrakech".

The proclamation is, however, not the only outcome of the two-week climate conference(COP22). Negotiators have initiated the process to frame rules for implementation of the Paris Agreement post-2020. The nitty-gritty of mobilising US $100 by 2020 is yet to be finalised as there has not a significant movement from rich nations on that front.

The rule making process for implementing the Paris Agreement, which entered into force on November 4, is an on-going process which is expected to be finalised and adopted before 2020. Once the rules are framed, the countries will start acting on their pledges as per their respective 'nationally determined contributions'(NDCs).

 
SOURCE : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/the-good-earth/Strong-political-declaration-at-Marrakech-climate-conference/articleshow/55497168.cms
 


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