INTRODUCTION
A two-week conference on climate change is being held by the UN on Dec 4- Dec 12 in Katowice, Poland. This conference is named as COP24 and in this, the United Nations will finalize the negotiations to solve the problem of climate change.
Highlights from the past
The UN has been organizing a lot of conferences on the issue of climate change in order to find a global solution. Though the progress is much slower than needed, the small actions taken till now has proved the fact that climate actions bring positive change and can help us prevent the worst. Some of the notable achievements are:
– About 57 countries have managed to lower down the levels of greenhouse gas emissions.
– About 51 “carbon pricing” initiatives are in progress. The aim of these initiatives is to charge those who are responsible for the emission of carbon dioxide.
– By the end of 2015, 18 countries agreed to donate the US $100 billion a year to the developing countries, for climate action.
The Paris document that provided the only viable suggestion for addressing the issues of climate change, has been approved by 184 parties and came into force in November 2016. This document is the main talk of COP24. The commitments that this document contains are:
– Pursue efforts for limiting the temperature increase to 1.5 degree Celsius.
– Create national climate plans by 2020, which will include the self-determined targets and goals by different nations.
– Protect ecosystems, like forests, that absorb greenhouse gases.
– Finalize a work programme for implementing the Paris agreement in 2018.
According to the United Nations, COP24 is crucial because the year 2018 marks the deadline of the Paris Agreement for adopting a work programme for the implementation of the commitments made by Paris in 2015. Among the different aspects that need to be ironed out for this agreement to work is the financing. The world can’t waste more time and all the nations need to agree on a decisive and ambitious way forward.
People can show their contribution by staying up with the highlights of COP24 and by following the action plans. Moreover, they can share their climate action efforts on social media to encourage other people to act.
A few initiatives supported by the UN to tackle climate change that can be considered by others
Farmers and entrepreneurs in rural eastern Europe are cutting emissions.
Drought-resistant trees are being planted in the Lake Chad region.
Smallholder cocoa production is helping to address environmental as well as economical problems in Guatemala.
Traditional knowledge is being used for nature preservation in Bhutan.
A few picks from the two-week climate change conference- COP24
About 12 members of civil society groups and one member of official delegations have been denied entry to Poland.
After the opening ceremony, the executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change- Patricia Espinosa underlined the stakes. He said that climate change has never shown such worse impacts and there is the need to do much more. And COP24 will make this happen.
G20 leaders issued a final communique in which they affirmed their commitment to the Paris Agreement. However, the United States remained out of this communique with its intention to withdraw.
The Council of the European Union said that it would reduce fees for rooftop solar and step up supportive designs in order to drive the growth of renewable energy.
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