EDITORIAL: COP26 the last best opportunity
GLOBAL attention will focus later this week on the Scottish capital city of Glasgow, where officials representing close to 200 countries will assemble for the highly touted COP26 conference.
COP stands for Conference of Parties and the meeting will bring together presidents, prime ministers, ministers of governments, environmentalists, civil society representatives, and journalists for what promises to be a historic occasion to tackle the business of climate change.
Other than COVID-19, climate change has emerged over the years as one of the most threatening developments to mankind’s existence.
The conference in Glasgow, from October 31 to November 12, promises much.
At issue is how to prevent global warming from going beyond the 1.5 degrees C agreed to at the Paris Climate talks in 2015.
The United Nations has argued that the world requires a stable climate in order for there to be sustainability and for countries to be free of the ravages runaway climate change can cause.
The reasoning is that the planet has been heating up at a very fast pace and with dangerous consequences.
The burning of fossil fuels, such as coal and gas to promote electricity, heating and transportation, has increased carbon dioxide, methane and other so-called greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The release of those gases has in turn warmed the earth’s surface temperatures, resulting as well in a rise in sea levels and triggering troubling weather systems including hurricanes and typhoons and other environmental disasters.
Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Ms. Kristalina Georgieva, said there is no more time to waste and that countries must move ahead together.
United States Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, John Kerry, described COP26 as the last best opportunity to get serious on the threat of climate change.
Our own Prime Minister, Mia Amor Mottley, said there must be no more delays in shaping a strategy to deal with the issues, while also insisting that there be a strategy to assist small island developing countries with their mitigation efforts.
Therefore, according to the latest edition of Finance and Development, a regular publication of the IMF, the UK’s COP26 President Alok Sharma has set out priorities for the Glasgow conference: to meet the net-zero emissions target, stepping up action on adaptation and resilience, delivering on the Bds$200 billion climate finance commitment, bolstering and transforming private finance, and increasing collaborations on all of these objectives.
What is of importance to this region is that it is made up of small and vulnerable economies, which requires support for adaptation and resilience.
The Caribbean is a hurricane-prone region and in recent years countries in that space have witnessed some of the most severe hurricanes that have left trails of death and destruction, and economic dislocations.
The issues of droughts, wildfires, coastal flooding, melting of ice sheets, are also at the root of global warming.
Being small therefore means that the rebuilding efforts in these mini states have been very costly.
As such, the world will be watching to see what comes out of COP26 and whether developing countries are going to be factored into the remedial measures given their vulnerable position.
We hope that there will be positive developments, things that are going to be beneficial to the entire world and not just a few.