{"id":8771,"date":"2024-01-03T17:23:12","date_gmt":"2024-01-03T14:23:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cfwt.sua.ac.tz\/ecosystems\/?p=8771"},"modified":"2024-01-03T17:23:14","modified_gmt":"2024-01-03T14:23:14","slug":"post-cop28-questions-linger-for-climate-impacted-communities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cfwt.sua.ac.tz\/ecosystems\/news\/post-cop28-questions-linger-for-climate-impacted-communities","title":{"rendered":"Post-COP28 questions linger for climate-impacted communities"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

In the week since the UN Climate Change Conference (COP28) came to an end, a cyclone slammed into Australia, torrential rains pelted the United States of America and a punishing drought continued to decimate crops in Zimbabwe.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

These disasters are a reminder, say experts, that while progress was made at COP28, not nearly enough financing has been devoted to helping communities adapt to extreme weather, which is expected to become more common as the Earth\u2019s climate changes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cFrameworks and tentative commitments are not sufficient,\u201d said Mirey Atallah, Head of the Nature for Climate Branch at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). \u201cWe are no longer operating in an \u2018if-and-when scenario\u2019. Countless communities around the world are already suffering the fallout from climate change. Finance and action are needed everywhere, from mitigation<\/a>, to loss and damage, to adaptation.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

On the climate adaptation<\/a> front, COP28 started with groundbreaking news. The world\u00a0agreed to operationalize<\/u><\/a>\u00a0the\u00a0Loss and Damage Fund<\/u><\/a>, which will provide financial assistance to the countries most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Unveiled in 2022, the fund<\/a> attracted nearly $300 million in pledges at COP28.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cThe new Loss and Damage Fund, though a significant step forward, does not diminish the urgent need for adaptation finance,\u201d said Alvin Chandra, Head of UNEP\u2019s Global Adaptation Network. \u201cAs we saw in the latest\u00a0Adaptation Gap Report<\/u><\/a>, every dollar invested in adapting to coastal flooding could save $14 from loss and damage to the economy.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Published by UNEP in the run up to COP28, this report set the scene for the conference\u2019s discussions, highlighting a widening adaptation finance gap in developing countries<\/a> \u2013 estimated at $US194 to US$366 billion per year. The publication was cited in the COP28 final text on the Global Stocktake, a key process to assess the progress of climate action<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Beyond the Loss and Damage Fund, COP28 was not short on commitments. The United Arab Emirates President announced a US$30 billion fund for climate<\/a> solutions, aiming to draw a total of US$250 billion of investments by 2030 for adaptation and mitigation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The United States pledged $3 billion to the\u00a0Green Climate Fund<\/u><\/a>, taking its second replenishment to almost US$13 billion, of which half is devoted to adaptation. A total of US$1 billion was announced for climate and health initiatives, along with almost US$200 million for the Global Environment Facility and around US$170 million for the Adaptation Fund<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Experts were quick to point out, though, that funding announcements<\/a> alone are not enough.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just the amount of adaptation finance that counts. It\u2019s also about the effectiveness and quality of the finance,\u201d said Atallah \u201cWe really need to dig deeper into how fast it is reaching the countries and communities that need it the most.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The\u00a0COP28 final decision<\/u><\/a>\u00a0reiterated a call from 2021 for developed countries \u201cto at least double\u201d adaptation finance for developing nations, and an agreement was reached to prepare a report to assess progress on that effort.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Global Goal on Adaptation<\/em>
\n<\/strong>On 13 December, a comprehensive framework of targets was agreed upon for the Global Goal on Adaptation, which is designed to build the resilience of countries to climate change.The goal was initially announced in Paris in 2015, but since then, disagreements have hobbled the creation of targets, metrics and indicators for the goal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cThis is a big deal for everyone wanting to scale-up adaptation ambition\u201d, said Chandra. \u201cIn future, countries can work towards a common playbook in their efforts to adapt, which will not only spur transformational action but also help close persistent finance gaps.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Key targets to be achieved by 2030 include strengthening resilience to water-related climate hazards, attaining climate-resilient food production, and reducing the adverse effects of climate change<\/a> on poverty eradication and livelihoods. A two-year work programme has been kickstarted to establish indicators for measuring progress towards the goal\u2019s targets.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cTo be truly impactful, adaptation needs to be tracked. This framework sets ambitious targets that will help to plan, track, and evaluate the effectiveness of adaptation,\u201d said Chandra.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

National adaptation plans<\/em>
\n<\/strong>At COP28, there was a clear recognition that countries are making progress in their efforts to develop and implement national adaptation plans, which chart how nations will build their resilience to climate change.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The Global Stocktake noted that 51 countries have now submitted plans, of which 11 were finalized in 2023 \u2013 a record number for any year. An increasing number of these plans now include costed frameworks and investment needs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The COP28 final outcome includes a call<\/a> for all countries to have their adaptation plans in place by 2030. Experts say<\/a> these ambitious targets will help direct support and finance to where it is most needed, accelerating action.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Nature-based solutions<\/em>
\n<\/strong>Launched at COP28,\u00a0the State of Finance for Nature\u00a0<\/u><\/a>\u00a0report found that global financial flows are still having a detrimental effect on the very ecosystems human wellbeing depends on.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Throughout 2023, via a series of regional workshops and technical submissions, UNEP collaborated with the UN Climate Change<\/a> secretariat to promote the importance of nature and ecosystems in building climate resilience. The Global Goal on Adaptation now includes a specific target to accelerate the use of ecosystem-based adaptation by 2030. COP28 also shed light on the challenges faced by mountain ecosystems and proposed concrete steps for intervention in 2024 under the Nairobi Work Programme<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The Global Stocktake emphasizes the importance of reversing deforestation by 2030, and it underlines the need to address the \u201cinterlinked global crises of climate change and biodiversity loss in the broader context of achieving the Sustainable Development<\/a> Goals\u201d. The stocktake also specifies that national adaptation plans should cover, \u201cas appropriate\u201d, the dimension of ecosystems.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cAt UNEP, we welcome the decision on ecosystems and biodiversity<\/a> as a concrete overarching target for enhancing resilience and adaptation,\u201d said Atallah. \u201cAll ecosystems and all species, irrespective of their conservation<\/a> status, are the mesh of life on which we depend.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The\u202f28th session of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (<\/em>COP28<\/em><\/a>) was held\u202ffrom 30 November to 13 December, 2023 in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates. It aimed to drive action on climate change<\/a> by reducing emissions and halting global warming. COP28 explored the\u202fresults from the first-ever Global Stocktake, which assesses\u202fprogress toward the\u202f<\/em>Paris Agreement<\/em><\/a>\u202fgoal of limiting global temperature rise to below 1.5\u00b0C. For a list of highlights, visit\u00a0<\/em>UNEP\u2019s climate action feed<\/em><\/a>.\u202f<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the week since the UN Climate Change Conference (COP28) came to an end, a cyclone slammed into Australia, torrential rains pelted the United States of America and a punishing drought continued to decimate crops in Zimbabwe. These disasters are a reminder, say experts, that while progress was made at COP28, not nearly enough financing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8772,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cfwt.sua.ac.tz\/ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cfwt.sua.ac.tz\/ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cfwt.sua.ac.tz\/ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cfwt.sua.ac.tz\/ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cfwt.sua.ac.tz\/ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8771"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.cfwt.sua.ac.tz\/ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8771\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8778,"href":"https:\/\/www.cfwt.sua.ac.tz\/ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8771\/revisions\/8778"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cfwt.sua.ac.tz\/ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cfwt.sua.ac.tz\/ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cfwt.sua.ac.tz\/ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cfwt.sua.ac.tz\/ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}