SUSTAINABLE ACTION FOR A GREEN PLANET PRESS CONFERENCE/LAUNCH OF AFRICAN WOMEN AND GIRLS DEMAND FOR COP27 HELD AT BROOKSVILLE HOTEL ABUJA, 12TH OCTOBER 2022.
PRESS STATEMENT
12th October 2022
Abuja, Nigeria.
COP 27: OUR EXPECTATIONS FROM SHARM EL-SHEIKH
For vulnerable populations and regions
THE STORM RAGES
Climate change continues to impact different regions of the world and people in different ways. While all regions of the world are affected by negative climate change impacts, developing nations are mostly affected due to their low adaptive capacity[1]. These impacts of climate change undermine efforts to achieve sustainable human, economic and ecological development, making it difficult for the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Even as efforts to fight climate change and assist vulnerable countries to cope with its impacts intensify over the years, the impacts of climate change are still being felt. These impacts are felt by everyone, but particularly by the vulnerable groups such as women, the physically challenged and the aged.
Africa, Asia, Middle East, Latin America and the Caribbean are vulnerable regions severely impacted by climate change. The African continent is increasingly experiencing drought conditions that contribute to famine, as well as flood conditions that have left millions of people displaced. In Latin America, precipitation patterns are shifting, temperatures are rising, and some areas are experiencing changes in the frequency and severity of weather extremes such as heavy rains. The impacts range from melting Andean glaciers to devastating floods and droughts. The two great oceans that flank the continent—the Pacific and the Atlantic—are warming and becoming more acidic while sea level also rises.[2]
Rising temperatures and more frequent extreme weather events have caused crop yields to decline in many Asian countries. Permafrost and glaciers are both retreating in an unprecedented fashion. Compared to 1990 levels, parts of Asia will probably see … a 5– 30% decrease in crop yields by the 2050s. The Himalayan glaciers are receding faster than any others on Earth, and many are very likely to be gone by 2035 or sooner if warming continues at its current rate. If this occurs, rivers on which over half a billion people depend for water will cease to flow for part of the year.
In the Middle East, temperatures have risen far faster than the world’s average in the past three decades. Precipitation has been decreasing and experts predict droughts will come with greater frequency and severity.
According to UNICEF, an estimated 761,000 children were internally displaced by storms linked to climate change in the Caribbean between 2014 and 2018 – the hottest five-year period on record. This is an increase of nearly 600,000, compared to the 175,000 children displaced in the preceding five-year period from 2009 to 2013.
As the impacts of climate change continue to take a toll on vulnerable continents across the world, urgent actions are needed to reverse this trend, to pave the way for sustainable development.
OUR EXPECTATIONS FROM SHARM EL-SHEIKH
We expect COP27 to deliver on the following:
Expectation 1: COP27 must deliver a funding mechanism for losses and damages associated with climate change impacts.
Why we expect this from COP27: Strong evidences continue to emerge that calls for a need for financial resources to address losses and damages associated with climate change impacts. According to the IPCC Working Group II Report – Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability – “Losses and damages escalate with every increment of global warming” and “…are not comprehensively addressed by current financial, governance and institutional arrangements, particularly in vulnerable developing countries.” The report also reveals that “limits to adaptation have been reached in some ecosystems.” With increasing global warming, losses and damages will increase and additional human and natural systems will reach adaptation limits.” “Even effective adaptation cannot prevent all losses and damages.” Losses and damages associated with the impacts of climate change are inducing forced migration of people, who have lost ancestral lands, cultural sites and livelihoods to extreme climatic events. This has led to insecurity and conflicts over scarce resources that have to be shared between the migrants and members of their host communities.Extreme climatic events have claimed several lives of women, especially women with disabilities as they are not able to easily flee from climate disasters. These irreversible losses and damages associated with climate change impacts, ought to be compensated by the developed countries that caused climate change. ______________________________________________________________________________
Expectation 2: COP27 should get developed countries to commit to halting investments in fossil fuels, unsafe energy systems and unsustainable exploration of other natural resources.
Why we expect this from COP27: One of the causes of climate change is the rise in global average temperature occasioned by Greenhouse gases emission from the burning of fossil fuels. Halting investments in fossil fuels and unsafe energy systems will cause the lowering of global average temperature. A report by Banktrack[3] revealed how governments, companies and financial institutions from developed countries still finance fossil fuel projects in developing countries, particularly in Africa even after the Paris Agreement entered into force. “Our research found 782 fossil fuel projects in operation or under construction in West, East, Central and Southern Africa, with a further 111 projects announced, proposed or permitted, between 2016, the year in which the Paris Agreement entered into force, and the end of June 2021. Also in this time, 71 projects were shelved, although these may become viable again in the future. These 964 fossil fuel projects are owned or supported by 406 companies, the majority headquartered in Europe, the United States and China[4].” “We examined direct finance for 58 fossil fuel projects as well as general purpose finance for 24 fossil fuel companies provided between 2016 and June 2021. Public and private sector financial institutions poured at least $132.3 billion into fossil fuel companies and projects in Africa in this period. This includes $82.5 billion in corporate finance for fossil fuel companies and $49.8 billion in direct finance for fossil fuel projects[5].” Some companies from the developed world are also financing unsustainable mining of other natural resources in developing nations, which cause land grabbing and forest degradation. This undermines efforts to address climate change and rip local communities of their means of livelihoods.
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Expectation 3: Prioritize agro-ecology and other nature-based solutions in tackling the climate crisis.
Why we expect this from COP27: Agriculture is one of the sectors that contribute significant Greenhouse gases emission into the atmosphere. According to IPCC, an estimated 23% of total anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions (2007-2016) derive from Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use (AFOLU)[6]. Industrial agriculture contributes significantly to global warming, representing a large majority of total agriculture-related GHG emissions. Alternatively, ecologically based methods for agricultural production, predominantly used on small-scale farms, are far less energy-consumptive and release fewer GHGs than industrial agricultural production. Besides generating fewer direct emissions, agro-ecological management techniques have the potential to sequester more GHGs than industrial agriculture[7]. Nature-based solution are better solutions to climate change than engineered solutions that have the potential to disrupt the natural climate system.
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Expectation 4: Support smallholder food producers especially women.
Why we expect this from COP27: The world’s smallholder farmers produce around a third of the world’s food[8]. Unfortunately, climate change has negatively impacted this group of farmers that employ agricultural practices that contribute little to the Greenhouse gases emissions that come from the agricultural sector. Of the 80% world’s smallholder farmers, 43% are women who are vulnerable to the impacts of climate change[9]. Supporting smallholder farmers with grants, expanding access of women to land, and respecting the rights of communities over their food systems will help in building their resilience to climate change as well as contributing to climate change mitigation.
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Expectation 5: Promote participation of all population groups in global and national climate change processes.
Why we expect this from COP27: “The percentage of women across all national delegations rose from 30% for meetings in 2009 to 38% in 2021, a less than 10 percentage point increase despite greater policy commitments and activities to promote equal participation. For COPs, only 10% of Heads of Delegations were women in 2009 and 13% in 2021, with a low of 9% in 2015 and high of 26% in 2017. Women’s participation tends to be highest in delegations from Latin America, Eastern Europe, and Western Europe, often between 45% and 50%, and lowest in Africa and Asia, often between 30% and 35%.
At this rate of change, gender parity in national COP delegations will not be achieved until 2040, and gender parity in COP Heads of Delegations will not be achieved within the forecastable future[10].” COP27 needs to get parties to the Convention to commit to taking more actions to increase the participation of women and youth in national and global climate change processes, including women with disabilities.
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Expectation 6: Redeem pledges to climate funds
Why we expect this from COP27: Developed countries are yet to meet their commitment to mobilize US$100 billion a year to help poorer countries deal with climate change[11].
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WHAT WE WANT OUR EXPECTATIONS TO ACHIEVE
We have a bigger picture in mind, of what we want beyond COP27.
And that is why even after COP27, we will engage the national governments, who are parties to UNFCCC, who implement the letters of the Convention and its agreements, to implement our expectations.
Here is the bigger picture we want to see:
A population of locals resilient to the impacts of climate change in Africa, Asia, Middle East, Latin America and the Caribbean.
Media enquiries
John Baaki – Women Environmental Programme (WEP)
Bassey Bassey – HipCity Innovation Center
Mercy – Small Scale Women Farmers Organization in Nigeria (SWOFON)
Patience Ogolo-Dickson – Advocacy for Women with Disabilities Initiative (AWWDI)
[1] UNFCCC (2007). Climate Change: Impacts, vulnerabilities and adaptation in developing countries. https://unfccc.int/resource/docs/publications/impacts.pdf
[2] WWF. Climate Change and Impact in Latin America. https://www.wwfca.org/en/our_work/climate_change_and_energy/climate_change_impacts_la/#:~:text=Latin%20America’s%20climate%20is%20changing,to%20devastating%20floods%20and%20droughts.
[3] Banktrack (2021).Locked out of a just transition: Fossil fuel financing in Africa. file:///C:/Users/LENOVO/OneDrive/Desktop/2022%20WORK/GLA%202022/07%20MD%20Banktrack%20fossil%20fuels%20Africa%20rpt%20hr.pdf
[4] Banktrack (2021).Locked out of a just transition: Fossil fuel financing in Africa. file:///C:/Users/LENOVO/OneDrive/Desktop/2022%20WORK/GLA%202022/07%20MD%20Banktrack%20fossil%20fuels%20Africa%20rpt%20hr.pdf
[5] Ibid
[6] IPCC (2020). Climate change and land. Summary for policy makers. https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/sites/4/2020/02/SPM_Updated-Jan20.pdf
[7] Brenda et al (2011). Effects of industrial agriculture on climate change and the mitigation potential of small-scale agro-ecological farms. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/230877696_Effects_of_industrial_agriculture_on_climate_change_and_the_mitigation_potential_of_small-scale_agro-ecological_farms
[8] FAO (2021). Small family farmers produce a third of the world’s food. https://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/1395127/icode/
[9] Oxfam. Empowering women farmers to end hunger and poverty. https://www.oxfam.org/en/empowering-women-farmers-end-hunger-and-poverty
[10] WEDO (2022). Women’s participation in the UNFCCC: 2022 report. https://wedo.org/womens-participation-in-the-unfccc-2022-report/
[11] UNDRR. https://www.preventionweb.net/news/wealthy-countries-still-havent-met-their-100-billion-pledge-help-poor-countries-face-climate
